


The Outcasts

by Kayama



Category: Angel: the Series
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-04-26
Updated: 2004-06-01
Packaged: 2018-05-31 10:32:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 42,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6466825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kayama/pseuds/Kayama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A second chance, a new beginning. (Rating changes from PG13 to NC17 depending on the chapter)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_Big thanks to Annalise and Eloise for beta reading this monster._  
Without them this fic would be a whole lot different and not of the  
good kind. ((Hugsss))) 

**Spoilers:** AtS S1 to 4, BtvS S3 and S5/6 I guess. At the  
beginning S4 of AtS and S7 of BtvS, Joss and I go our separate ways  
again.

**Disclaimer:** The boys and girls are not mine, I'm just playing with them.

**The Outcasts**

"The warriors are gone, this world is now without champions," the female Oracle said.

"This cannot be, it shall not be permitted," her brother answered.

"But it is so, what can we do?" The female Oracle questioned.

"We must seek champions elsewhere," the male said.

"But where? All worlds need their champions, we cannot just take them," She said.

"There are the outcasts in this world," her brother said, pointing toward one of the worlds.

"They shall not go willingly, they are known for their stubbornness the ones from this world," she said thoughtfully.

"Then we shall give them no choice, until after they've spend some time in the world who lost their champion," the male Oracle decided.

The female thought about this for a moment. "But they will not work together. They are all like fire and water," she argued.

"This is best combination. They will learn to get along. They are a lot alike. Those from this world adapt faster then those from any other world. Especially when without much choice," he reasoned.

"This is true," his sister said, circling the glowing ball. "It shall be done."

They both nodded their agreement and four flashes appeared over one world and re-appeared over another.

"Done," both voices said.

~*~*~*~

_Somewhere in England_

The redhead looked on as the flower grew and bloomed as if mesmerized. A small smile was on her face as she thought of Tara, the one who had loved flowers.

"This flower doesn't belong here," a soft British voice said. 

"I know, Giles," Willow sighed. Yes, she knew this, but what harm did it do? It was only one little flower. She was getting frustrated in the coven. Everyone was looking at her with fear in their eyes, making sure that she never overstepped any boundaries. Boundaries they had set, not her own boundaries.

Giles sat down next to her, looking at the young woman with worry. "You seem...frustrated," he said. "What's the matter?"

Willow thought about this for a while. "This isn't working Giles," she said, holding up her hand to forestall any interruptions that were sure to come. "I have this power, I know how to use it. But here, here they won't let me develop it. Use it for good, teach me how to use it," she tried to explain. "They are afraid of me, of what I can do. As are my friends", she whispered.

"You were about to destroy the world Willow," Giles pointed out. "You would have if Xander hadn't stopped you."

"I know," she said again, looking up. Unshed tears shinning in her eyes. "It's just...I think I have no purpose here anymore Giles," she whispered. "Like I don't belong."

Giles looked at her alarmed and was about to tell her otherwise when he sensed magic in the air. He frowned and looked at Willow, about to lecture her again. 

Willow however looked at him, rather puzzled herself. "What...?" she started to say, but that was about as far as she came. A bright, white light enveloped her.

When Giles could see again, Willow...was gone.

~*~*~*~

_Somewhere in Africa_

"You have done well Vampire. You shall receive your reward," the demon said. He reached out and his claw touched Spike's chest, where his heart would be.

Spike fell on his knees as the searing, burning pain went though his dead body. His mouth open for a cry that never came out. When he awoke several hours later, the cave was empty. The demon gone.

"No, no, no," Spike moaned. He was bombarded with images of people. People he'd tortured, people he'd killed, people he'd hurt...Buffy. And with it came the guilt, the shame, the pain. 

"Nooooo," Spike shouted, standing up on shaky legs. "This isn't what I wanted! This isn't what I asked for!" But it was what he had been given, his reward. "Get back here you bastard!" he yelled in the empty cave.

But no one came. He was alone. Alone with the guilt, the shame, the pain...the memories. "Buggering hell! What am I going to do now?" Spike asked himself, burrying his head in his hands.

He looked up when he felt a tingle at the spine of his back. Narrowing his eyes suspiciously he glanced around. Magic, he could feel it working. Had the demon come back?

The white light enveloping him was so unexpected, that he was unable to react. When the light disappeared and the darkness was returned to the cave...Spike was gone.

~*~*~*~

_Womans Penitentiary California, Maximum Security_

Faith lay on the bunk in her cell. She could just see outside the small window in her cell. A privilege, most cells didn't have any windows. A year of good behavior and there were benefits to be expected. Today, she noticed, it rained.

Wesley had come to visit again. She was depressed by how he looked and how he just didn't seem to care about himself at all. Angel never came by anymore, had stopped doing so some time ago. There were letters of course, but even those had stopped about six months ago.

Now she was feeling depressed. Why was she still in here? It wasn't doing her any good, it wasn't doing the world any good. She should be out there, fight the good fight, help the helpless and all that shit. But there was no room for her in that world was there?

She wasn't wanted by most. Buffy was holding her own, didn't need Faith's help. Angel was holding his own, didn't need her help. Wesley wasn't holding his own, but he obviously didn't want her help. 

She felt lost. She hadn't felt this lost since that faithful night in the rain. When she had tortured Wesley and had tried to get Angel to kill her. It had rained then, like it did now. _How ironic,_ she thought.

She sat up, looking around suspiciously when she felt a tingling in her body. 'Slayer senses' Buffy would call it. She felt it now. 

"What the fuck...?" she started, but before she could turn to yell for help, a white light exploded in her cell, shone outside the door.

By the time the guards got the door open and frantically looked inside...Faith was gone.

~*~*~*~

_An alley somewhere in Los Angeles_

He was drunk. Riproaringly, completely bonkers drunk. And he didn't care. It made him feel numb. Got rid of those pesky feelings of guilt, shame and the pain that appeared to be his constant companions.

Wesley swayed down the alley on his way home, or at least he thought it was in the direction of his home. Knowing that he was asking for trouble. Knowing that deep down inside, maybe he wanted trouble. Nothing like a good fight to forget what the alcohol couldn't. If he was lucky he might even get killed.

"Bloody Angel, sodding friends," he muttered to himself, his tone bitter. "Ha! Some friends they turned out to be," he said a little to loud. "Bloody prophecy, I'm an idiot," he berated himself.

"What have we here, a pretty looking snack." A vampire jumped from behind some crates and glanced at Wesley. It was a dirty looking man, probably died during his early twenties. Still wearing a 'Frankie goes to Hollywood' T-shirt and some faded jeans.

"Oh just my luck," Wesley muttered, rolling his eyes. "I run into an eighties reject vampire."

"Hey! Did you just insult me?" The vampire growled. He grabbed Wesley by his jacket and slammed him against the wall.

Wesley winced when he felt the back of his head connect hard with the stone wall. "Yes, yes I did," Wesley smirked, "What of it?"

The vampire was about to make a come back, and quite a witty one he thought, when he looked around confused. Something wasn't right, but he had no idea what.

"Get on with it man, I haven't all night." Wesley sighed, not noticing anything. The next thing he knew, a white light exploded in front of his eyes. _How odd,_ Wesley thought, _this wasn't at all what I'd imagined when dying._

The vampire crumbled to dust when the light reached its brightest point. When the light was gone, only a pile of dust remained in the alley. Wesley...was gone.


	2. Chapter 1

_Big thanks to Annalise and Eloise for beta reading this monster. Without them this fic would be a whole lot different and not of the  
good kind. ((Hugsss)))_

**Spoilers:** AtS S1 to 4, BtvS S3 and S5/6 I guess. At the beginning S4 of AtS and S7 of BtvS, Joss and I go our separate ways again.

**Disclaimer:** The boys and girls are not mine, I'm just playing with them.

**The Outcasts**

Blinking against the bright sunlight, she woke up. She was lying on the grass. What had happened? She remembered an odd feeling, a flash of white light and then nothing. Waking up here, wherever here was.

Pushing herself up, Willow looked around carefully. She noticed three others lying on the grass. One she recognized immediately. Spike. She gasped and looked at him with wide eyes. Spike was laying in the direct sunlight. And he hadn't turn to dust.

Jumping up she ran over to the vampire. "Spike! Wake up!" she said urgently, shaking him.

Groaning Spike rolled on his back. "Red?" he muttered. He blinked up at her and then noticed the bright sunlight. Without thinking he jumped up and scooted into the shadow of a nearby tree. "Buggering hell!" he yelled, checking himself for burn-marks. He looked at Willow in awe.

"You were laying there for some time I guess," she shrugged. "And you didn't explode or anything." She watched as Spike carefully held out a hand in the direct sunlight and nothing happened.

Spike smiled slightly and stepped further into the sunlight. Amazing! He could walk into the sunlight; feel its warmth, without exploding to dust. He glanced up at the sun, squinting. A sun that looked...odd. It was orange red, instead of the orange yellow he remembered. "That normal?" he asked Willow.

Willow shielded her eyes and squinted up at the sun too. Before she could say anything however a voice interrupted her, a familiar voice.

"What's up with the sun? What the fuck is going on?"

Spike and Willow looked in the direction of the voice. Faith, no doubt about it. She looked older maybe, but it was still Faith. Complete with her trade mark scowl.

"Faith? What are you doing here?" Willow asked.

"How am I suppose to know that, Wills. One minute I was comfy cozy in my cell, then a bright light and her I am," Faith said, moving to stand up. She wiped her hands on her orange prison outfit.

"I still don't know what the bloody hell is going on," Spike said, glancing around. This was more then highly suspicious.

"I felt magic, before I woke up here," Willow volunteered.

"Yeah, well I didn't know it was magic, but I felt something," Faith agreed, while Spike nodded his assent.

"Bloody hell, must you people be so loud? I'm trying to die in peace here." The muttered complained alerted the trio to the fourth form still laying on the grass.

Faith stepped over to the man, a slight smile on her face. Her expression turned into a worried one when she took in his appearance. "Wes? You okay?" she asked, tentatively touching his shoulder.

"Faith?" Wesley groaned. "No I'm not alright, be a good Slayer and put me out of my misery please."

"A Watcher?" Spike asked, looking down at the rumpled form.

"Wesley?" Willow on her turn asked. She had known the man as a prissy, pompous, stuck up, overly fastidious man. Nothing at all like the miserable form laying on the grass now. "What happened to him?"

"Long story," Faith muttered. "Come on Wes, wakey wakey. There's a mystery for you to solve and stuff."

"Sod off," Wesley groaned, but he turned to his back. He quickly closed his eyes as they were attacked by the far too bright sunlight. "Oh lord, I need a drink."

"No you don't," Faith sighed. She grabbed him under his shoulders and dragged him up, slapping him lightly on the cheek. "Come on Wes, get your shit together."

Sighing Wesley let himself be dragged up. He squinted at his surroundings. "Willow?" he looked at the young woman surprised. "I'm afraid I don't know who you are," he told Spike.

"I'm sure you do know," Spike smirked. "William the Bloody, but you may call me Spike."

Wesley blinked at the man...vampire. Of course, Angel's wayward grandchild. Always Angel, coming to haunt him. Then he noticed something else. He blinked. "You are aware, Spike, that you're standing in direct sunlight and have not turned to dust?"

"Yeah, great innit?" Spike said, turning his face toward the sun.

"Holy shit, I hadn't even noticed that. Wicked cool," Faith said, smiling at the vampire's obvious glee over the fact that he could stand in the sun.

"Well that is all fine and dandy," Wesley said, pushing a hand through his hair. "But that still doesn't tell us what is going on here, or where here is for that matter." He glanced at the sun again. "Anyone else noticed that the sun doesn't look quite right?"

"Yeah," Willow nodded. Finally someone who was going to ask the right questions and find out what was going on here.

"Now that you mention it again," Faith said, looking at the sun. Her hand shielding her eyes.

"Thought it looked different then I remembered," Spike agreed.

"It's also closer to the planet then it should be," Wesley said thoughtfully. He moved to pull off his glasses for their customary polish round, only to find they weren't there. Right, he hadn't worn any glasses for some time now. They were in his pocket, since his hands had been too shaky this morning to put in his contact lenses.

"This planet?" Spike wanted to know. "How's that?"

"Well Spike, obviously we're not on the same planet or dimension anymore," Wesley said matter of factly.

"That's the feeling I get too," Willow said. "So...now what?"

"I suppose we should carefully look around for any form of life, and get some answers to our questions," Wesley said.

"I'll climb in that tree and look around," Faith said, running toward said tree enthusiastically. Spike was right on her heels, not to be outdone. And certainly not by a Slayer.

Willow trotted after them, watching as the vampire and Slayer raced each other to the top of the tree.

Wesley on the other hand peered down the hill. He noticed a small sandy road at the bottom of the hill. Looking over his shoulder he shook his head at the tree climbing. Bloody children, the lot of them. He pushed his hands in his pockets and made his way down the hill toward the road.

Once he was there he noticed another thing. Signs. In a language that looked suspiciously like English. One sign pointed to the right, reading 'Barnting 10 K', the other pointed to the left, reading 'Vilnarsy 5 K'. Leaning against the post the signs were attached to, Wesley waited for the others to catch up.

"Next time you notice something, you can share it with the rest of the class, you wanker," Spike told Wesley. The vampire didn't look too pleased. Probably lost the tree-climbing contest with the Slayer.

Faith on the other hand, just scowled at the Watcher.

"Now what would be the fun in that Spike?" Wesley asked, slightly amused. But only slightly. His head was still aching from the hangover and he didn't like the fact that he had no clue what was going on here.

"Ooh, look! Signs," Willow's excited voice interrupted the upcoming bicker party. "How handy!"

"Right," Wesley agreed, pushing himself from the pole the signs were attached to. "We've two choices it seems. I *suggest* we go to this Vilnarsy as it seems closer by." He emphasized the word suggest, not wanting to seem he were giving them some order. He was sick of doing that, and it didn't feel right. 

"How much is 5K?" Faith wanted to know.

"I've no idea Faith. I had better things to do then figure out the bloody stupid American metrics system." Wesley muttered, turning to walk into the direction the sign pointed at. "I just hope their 5K is the same as our European one."

Faith grabbed her heart in mock pain. "No! Wesley Wyndam-Pryce just admitted he didn't know something? I don't believe it."

Wesley sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Contrary to popular belief Faith, I'm not perfect," he said stiffly and moved to walk down the dusty road.

"Damn," Faith said and jogged after the Watcher. "Come on Wes, wait up."

Willow and Spike looked at the retreating backs of the couple, before looking at each other. "This should be fun," Willow said.

Spike just quirked his eyebrow and smirked, still enjoying the warm feeling of the sun on his exposed skin.

They sped up a little to catch up with the other two. Making their way toward Vilnarsy, hoping this was a village, hoping to find a sign of life, hoping to find some answers.

~*~*~*~

Wesley's head was aching, his muscles were sore, it was far too hot and he was too stubborn to take of his coat like the others had done. Even though he knew he should. What he really wanted, was to sit or lay down for a few moments and rest. But no way in hell was he going to show any signs of weakness. If the rest didn't have a problem then neither did he. Or well, Willow. Since Spike and Faith and their special powers didn't really count.

Faith had pulled down the top of her bright orange prison outfit, to reveal the tank top underneath. She tied the sleeves of the ugly prison thing around her waist and enjoyed the feel of the sun on her skin. It had been a long time since she could enjoy the sun freely, without anyone watching her or interrupting her time in the sun.

She cast a worried glance at Wesley. He was far too pale for her liking, sweat dripping down his face. The idiot hadn't even taken off his jacket. To her expert eye, he looked like he was going to collapse at any minute. She cast a worried glance over her shoulder toward Willow.

Willow too had noticed the ex-Watcher's difficulties. She'd smelled the alcohol on his breath and heard Faith's muttered remarks about far too many nights spend in bars. Add the hot sun to the hangover, and yes, even this normal walk would be like torture. But obviously the man was too proud for his own good. She spotted a few trees up ahead. That seemed as good a resting place as any.

"Can we sit down for a few moments over there?" she asked, giving a tiny smile to Faith as the Slayer gave her a grateful look. 

Spike shrugged and trotted toward the trees. "Sure, no problem," he said, pulling out a packet of cigarettes. He offered one to Faith, who took it with a raised eyebrow. Spike sharing a cig? This was new.

Wesley said nothing. He pulled of he jacket, tossed it on the ground and almost collapsed on it. He closed his eyes, put his hands behind his head and tried to control his breathing. Thank god for Willow. Who, he was sure, didn't need a rest at all.

They all sat in silence for a few moments. Faith and Spike smoking their cigarettes. Then Faith's curiosity got the better of her.

"So..." She started. "You all know what I've been doing the last few years.You know, kill, torture, prison and all that. I know his story," she said, jerking her thumb over her shoulder at Wesley. "But what have you two been doing, cuz I'm getting this weird vibe from the both of you."

Both Spike and Willow tensed, trying to not to look at each other or Faith. Then Willow let out a shaky breath.

"I guess we need to be honest with each other. I mean, we only got each other to depend on here and we need to know what's the what if we want to work together good," she said. She plucked down a flower from the grass and twirled it in her fingers.

"Okay then," she said. She took a deep breath and started her story. "A few month ago, Tara died," she said. "Tara was my girlfriend," she explained quickly to Wesley and Faith. Spike looked shocked. 

"I'm sorry," he said softly, "she was a great girl." And she had been. Spike actually felt something he recognized as grief for the los of this girl.

"Anyway," Willow continued. "I lost it then. Got my mojo up and tried to destroy the world. Fought my friends, even killed the boy who shot Tara," she whispered, hanging her head. "Giles took me to England to this coven, but it didn't really work out. So here I am. Killer witch." She sniffled, letting out a sobbing laugh at the double meaning of 'killer witch'.

Both Spike and Faith looked at her with sympathy. They knew how she felt, they had both been in the same place. Or actually they were in this place. 

"I'm sorry for your loss, Willow," Faith said, touching the other girls shoulder lightly.

"Cordelia told me about Tara," Wesley said, suddenly thoughtful. "I'm very sorry I've never had the chance to meet her."

"Thanks," Willow said, giving them a shaky smile. "Well that's my story," she finished. She turned to look at Spike. "Where did you run off to this summer, Spike. I'm getting this weird feeling from you. You did something funny."

Spike sighed. Right then, better get this over with. Not that he liked sharing anything. But the girls were right. They needed each other to depend on, best be honest from the start. 

"Did something awful, felt sorry, went to Africa and got myself a soul," he told them shortly. He looked up and was met with three identical incredulous stares. 

"You got a soul?" Willow asked.

"Voluntarily?" Wesley wanted to know.

"Yeah, well. I didn't know the sodding demon was going to give that as my reward. But I don't regret it," Spike told them, holding his head high.

Willow and Faith smiled at him. Wesley gave him an intense look. Spike remembered that the man worked with Angel, having figured that much out by questioning Willow about it while they were under way. He was starting to feel uncomfortable under the man's stare.

"Good for you," Wesley finally said. "Just don't go and brood. Or attack me with pillows," he muttered.

Faith slapped him on the shoulder. "Wes, he's not Angel."

"Dear God I hope not," Wesley said, laying down on his jacket again.

"I thought you worked with Angel?" Willow asked confused. "That remark didn't sound very Angel friendly."

Wesley sighed. Oh Lord, he hadn't the energy to tell the entire story again. His throat was starting to hurt too. He was thirsty, he had a headache, his muscles were sore, and he really didn't want to tell the story again. "Faith, why don't you tell them what happened. I haven't the energy."

"But it's your story," Faith complained. She noticed the tired look Wesley gave her and the way he touched his throat.

"The poof give you that scar?" Spike asked.

"In a way," Wesley muttered.

"All right, lets keep this short. No interruptions till I'm done,” Faith said. She took a deep breath and started to rattle off the story. "Okay, Angel and Darla had a son. Wes here discovered a prophecy that Angel was going to kill his son. So, to save Angel and Connor, that's his son, Wes took Connor away. Only to be tricked by a minion of Holtz. Holtz is an old enemy of Angel and Darla. This bitch, Justine, slit Wes' throat and took Connor. Holtz then took Connor from her and jumped with the kid in a hell dimension. Angel and friends blamed Wes. Angel even tried to kill him in the hospital with a pillow. And that's that,” Faith finished, looking over at Spike and Willow. "Questions? Comments?"

"Angelus has a son? With Darla?" was all Spike managed to say. This would take some time to digest. "And he tried to kill you? But it wasn't your fault from what I hear."

"Angel chose to see it differently," Wesley managed. The entire story brought back bad memories. Memories he'd rather forget. Feelings he'd rather forget.

"They never asked you for your side of the story? Not even Cordy?" Willow asked.

"Nope," Faith answered for Wesley.

"Well that sucks!" Willow said. 

Wesley had to smile at the fierce tone in her voice. He had always liked the redhead witch. She had turned into a strong, capable woman, who clearly wielded a lot of magical power. And that scared a lot of people.

And then there was Faith. She had grown up too. Strong physically, but now also mentally, capable to handle her Slayer status, if only she were allowed to.

Spike was different too. He hadn't known Spike personally, but Willow seemed to like and oddly trust him. And he'd heard that the vampire had been helping the so-called Scoobies even before he got a soul. A soul he sought voluntarily. That had to be a first, very admirable.

And then there was him. Failed ex-watcher, failed ex-boss, failed period. But somehow Wesley had a feeling the others were thinking the same about themselves. 

"And we know your story," Spike said, pointing to Faith. "You tortured him or Giles?" he asked. Remembering she had tortured her Watcher, but unsure which one it had been.

"Him," Faith said, looking down. Regret laced her voice. She brushed her hands over the grass absentmindedly.

"We've been over this Faith," Wesley said. His voice sounded tired, rough, as if he'd been using it too much. Which no doubt he had, since he hadn't used his voice much after Justine had cut his throat.

"Yeah, I know," Faith answered.

"Hey wow," Willow suddenly said. "Did you notice? We're all like...you know...outcasts. Sorta...in a way," she looked at each of them thoughtfully. 

"Huh, I guess so," Faith agreed.

"Interesting," Wesley said, his mind already mulling over that fact.

"I'm thinking we better get a move on again," Spike said, looking up at the sky. "From the looks of the sun, there's not much time left till nightfall. And I for one don't want to find out what's lurking around here in the dark just yet."

Willow and Faith got up quickly and walked toward the road again. Talking quietly to each other. Spike reached out a hand toward Wesley. 

Glancing at the hand, Wesley shrugged and took it. Letting Spike pull him up. He retrieved his jacket, but didn't pull it on this time. Following Spike, he too, made his way toward the road, toward the village. 

Some questions had been answered now. But it had opened a whole new can of questions, which would prove much less easy to answer. Why where they here? Who had brought them here? Why them? Wesley's mind chewed over these questions as he followed his companions down the dusty road.


	3. Chapter 3

_Big thanks to Annalise and Eloise for beta reading this monster. Without them this fic would be a whole lot different and not of the  
good kind. ((Hugsss)))_

**Spoilers:** AtS S1 to 4, BtvS S3 and S5/6 I guess. At the beginning S4 of AtS and S7 of BtvS, Joss and I go our separate ways again.

**Disclaimer:** The boys and girls are not mine, I'm just playing with them.

**The Outcasts**

Four pairs of eyes stared down the green hill. To the left of them, was a forest. It had huge trees that made Faith think of something she had read in jail once. Mammoth trees they'd called them. Only these were bigger, with much smaller trees underneath. And they had odd coloring, varying from blue to purple to red and yellow. To their right was a huge body of water. And if the salty smell in the air, and the odd looking birds flying near the water was anything to go by, she'd have to say it was a ocean. If she looked real hard, she could even see some ships floating on the surface of the water.

Right in front of them was, what they thought would be Vilnarsy.

"This is not what I had in mind when I thought of this town," Willow said softly.

"Fort Knox is nothing compared to this," Faith agreed.

The town of Vilnarsy, was indeed not the tiny settlement they had expected to find. Instead it turned out to be a huge town, almost a metropolis if you will. The town was surrounded by walls, on which soldiers looked down at the throng of people going to and from the town. A large road led from the forest into the town, along which a variety of creatures traveled. Luckily for them, the road they were currently on seemed deserted 

"Most fascinating," Wesley said, as he peered down at the throng of people and creatures entering the town. Some were humanoid, some were most obviously not. There were odd looking creatures, used as work animals as far as Wesley could tell. Outside the town, there were several tents set up. Animals were kept in what looked like pens, wash was hung out to dry and children were playing around the tents. 

The various species of humanoid and non-humanoid creatures seemed to co-exist in this dimension, whether or not in peace, they had no idea. There was something else they noticed right away as well.

"We're gonna stick out like a flag in a mud-pool," Spike said. He glanced at Faith, "Specially you, Slayer. What with the bright orange."

"Some of us will need to get down there when it's a tad darker and nick some clothing from those washing-lines," Wesley opted, pointing below. "That ought to give us some form of disguise."

"Good thinking Watcher," Spike approved. "As soon as it's darker you and me are gonna go down there."

"Why you two?" Faith bristled. She was itching to go down as well, ready for some action.

"Because, Spike and I are wearing the darkest clothes, Faith," Wesley explained calmly.

Faith looked from her bright orange outfit, to Willow's bright red knitted sweater. Wesley was right of course. She should have thought of that. "Well okay, but I'm not wearing a dress or...or a skirt," She hissed.

"We'll see what we can find Slayer," Spike smirked. He was enjoying himself. Completely against his expectations he liked both Wesley and Faith. He'd already had a bit of a soft spot for Willow, but the other two seemed to be fun as well. 

Faith's flaring temper, and her fight to control it, her sense of humor. Plus Spike knew that as a Slayer, Faith would be an asset in a fight, would it come to that. 

Wesley's intelligence and sarcasm appealed to him. Recognizing himself a bit in the man. What the Watcher's dependability was in a fight, Spike had no real idea, but something told him the man would have his back.

"What the fuck is that?" Faith pointed down at the road below. A big, horse-like creature was pulling a cart toward the entrance of the town. It's hind legs were much smaller then its forelegs, it had funny looking round ears, its fur was yellowish brown, but what stood out the most were the huge tusks coming out of a snout.

"I've no idea," Wesley said thoughtfully. "It appears to be some kind of horse-like creature." This was absolutely intriguing. A demonologist could get completely lost in this dimension for centuries, with all the strange new species of creatures and humanoids. Were the demonologist interested that was. Which Wesley told himself he wasn't.

"Oh man," Willow said dreamily, "I could spend years here updating my demon database. If they had databases," she babbled on. "Or...you know electricity, which they don't by the looks of it. Or even computers."

"You'll just have to find yourself some paper and a pen then," Spike grinned.

"I think it's best we wait until morning before we attempt to enter the town," Wesley said, still looking at the entrance into Vilnarsy.

"Why's that?" Faith wanted to know.

"This town, odd as it may seem, has a certain 17th century feel to it," Wesley started. "The busiest hours were usually in the mornings. We could easily slip into town then, hiding in the crowd, as it were."

"Huh, the Watcher has a point," Spike agreed.

"Spike, just for the record, I'm not a Watcher," Wesley said, turning to face Spike.

"Yes you are," Faith insisted, interrupting anything else he was about to say.

Wesley blinked at her. "Pardon?"

"Yes.you.are," She said again, punctuating her words. "You're my Watcher." She folded her arms over her chest and stared him down.

"You don't need a Watcher," Wesley sighed. "Least of all me."

"I don't think so," Faith said. "You're my Watcher and that's that." She gave him a look that could melt ice.

"She's right, you know," Willow agreed with Faith. "A Slayer needs a Watcher. And besides, who else is going to be her Watcher here? You're the only one around."

Wesley looked from Faith to Willow. Marvelous, only here one day and they were already ganging up on him. "Oh fine," Wesley said, throwing his hands in the air. "It's your funeral."

"Now that we've got that settled we can go clothing hunting." Spike said, smirking at the exasperated Watcher. "Before it's too dark for you to see anything," he added smugly. "Come on." And with that, Spike started to walk down the hill toward the tent camp in front of the town.

Casting a last glare at both Willow and Faith, Wesley turned on his heels and followed him. Sighing when he heard the girls giggling behind him. Oh, this was going to be a lot *fun*. Bloody marvelous.

~*~*~*~

The men decided to split up. That way they would be noticed the least and could cover the most ground. Spike would look at something for him and Willow, while Wesley would look for something for himself and Faith.

About an hour later they met up again, safely outside the camp. Both men had succeeded in their little scavenger hunt and were already wearing native clothings.

Wesley stared at Spike. The man wore clothing similar to what he was wearing. Light brown pants, soft, thin, leather-like shoes, and a white tunic. Wesley himself had found a short brown coat to wear over the ensemble. The vampire looked, and Wesley had no other word for it, quite handsome. 

But what astonished him the most, was Spike's coat. The vampire had actually managed to find a long coat, much like his duster. Only this one was made of the crude fabric they used in this world. Either the art making of fine textile hadn't reached this world yet, or it was only for the very rich.

"What?" Spike asked, looking himself up and down and then back at Wesley. "If I look as good in this outfit as you do in yours, I don't see a problem," he winked at the other man.

Wesley made a vague gestured toward Spike's coat. "What is it with Vampires of your line and dramatic coats?" he wanted to know. "I mean, I've always suspected Angel wore his billowing coat for the dramatic effect. But you managing to find one even here confirms my suspicions."

"Oy! I'm nothing like the poof," Spike complained.

"This is true," Wesley had to agree. Because if he'd learned anything in the short time he'd known Spike, it was that he was indeed nothing like Angel. Exactly the opposite one could say. For one, Spike seemed to be more connected to people. And he had a sense of carefree humor Wesley found odly refreshing.

"All right then," Spike nodded. "Just so that's clear. You find anything for the Slayer?"

"Yes," Wesley said, holding up a bundle, "Several things even. She can have her pick. There has to be something in here she can't complain about too loudly."

Spike smirked. "Same here," he said, gesturing to the bundle under his arm.

"I did notice one thing while walking around there," Wesley said, looking at Spike thougthfully. "I've seen many different hair-colors. Blond, brown, red and even blue. But I've not seen anything quite like your extreme shade of blond."

"Noticed that too," Spike growled, as if this was highly offending. "Found something for it." And with that he reached inside his coat, pulled out a big, floppy hat and put it on his head. It covered the platinum blond hair completely.

Wesley blinked once, twice. Crossed his arms in front of his chest and pretended to rub his chin thoughtfully, while hiding the fact that he was biting his bottom lip behind a hand. His shoulders were starting to shake and he hoped to God that Spike wouldn't move.

Spike frowned at the other man. "What's so funny?" he demanded to know, bouncing on the balls of his feet, making the hat flop up and down dramatically.

That did it. Wesley couldn't hold it in anymore. He burst out laughing, holding on to his side, almost doubled over in hysterics. When he looked up and saw Spike giving him an annoyed look from under that ridiculous hat, it brought on a new round of choked laughter, so much so that he was wiping away tears.

Spike narrowed his eyes at Wesley. On one hand he didn't like be laughed at. On the other hand, he hadn't yet seen the man smile, let alone laugh. It was enchanting to watch. He could almost feel the corners of his own mouth twitching. Sighing, he grabbed Wesley by his shirt and hauled him up the hill.

~*~*~*~

Wesley was still snickering and snorting when they reached the top of the hill. Spike himself was torn between hitting the man and joining him in laughing. He settled for pouting and looking annoyed.

Faith and Willow came from under the trees, looking at the men curiously. They saw Wesley first. They both nodded their appreciation at his attire. Faith took hold of the bundle he thrust at her, watching as he wiped away some stray tears. 

"What's so funny?" Willow asked confused. Then she saw Spike appear. She glanced at a still laughing Wesley, then at a smirking Faith and then back at Spike. "That's...a different look," she said, trying her best not to laugh. 

"Here," Spike said, pushing a bundle toward her, glaring at Faith who'd begun to join Wesley in a new round of laughter. 

"Thanks!" Willow said brightly. She was glad to follow a, by now, hysterical Faith into the covering of the bushes. Spike could hear her giggling as she ran to catch up with Faith.

"All right, lets see what's so funny about this thing," Spike said. He pulled off the hat and plopped it down onto Wesley's head. 

Wesley blinked from under it surprised. Nodding a few times, to emphasis the ridiculousness of the hat, he stared back at the vampire.

Spike blinked at him ferociously a few times, taking a deep breath. "Okay, I see your point," he finally said, deflating visibly. 

"Oh come on, it's not that bad," Wesley said, pulling off the hat. He reached down and pulled out the knife he had strapped to his ankle. He cut some of the brim off, thus making it smaller and slightly less ridiculous. Then he put it on his own head and looked at Spike. "How's this?"

Spike huffed and looked at Wesley. He pulled a face of approval and grabbed the hat back. "Thanks," he said. 

"Oh that looks much better," Willow's voice came from behind them.

Turning around both men looked at the redhead. She was wearing something similar to their own outfits. Only her pants were dark green and her tunic a lighter green. Over it she wore a sleeveless vest in the same color as her pants. "This stuff itches," Willow complained, scratching her arms.

"But you do look lovely," Wesley pointed out.

"Uh, thank you," Willow smiled blushing slightly. "You don't look too bad yourself. Even Spike looks better, now that the hat looks less stupid," she nodded.

"Awh Damn," Faith's voice came. "I thought the hat looked kinda funny." She was pulling on her tunic. "I think the sleeves are too short," she complained.

"No, you twit," Spike said. "It's supposed to be that way." He pointed to his own sleeves. 

"Oh," Faith said, looking at Willow. "Nice color Wills, looks good on you."

"And you're very...uh...you, Faith," Willow said, looking over Faith's outfit. It was almost identical to her own, only Faith's was a dark blue with a lighter blue tunic.

"Yes, you look lovely as well, Faith," Wesley agreed. "And no dress," he smirked.

The Slayer scowled at him and then stuck her tongue out at him.

"These people don't have much imagination when it comes to clothing it seems," Spike complained.

"Well, you have to give them points for the dramatic coats and the funny hats," Wesley pointed out. 

"Oh shut up," Spike mock growled, giving the watcher a gentle push.

Willow giggled at the banter. She was feeling funnily at ease in this group. No one expected anything of her; no one gave her scared looks. Even though they had only been together for a very short time, she already saw them as friends, possibly becoming good friends. And that surprised her.

"I don't know about you lot," Faith yawned, "But I'm beat. I'm gonna find a place to sleep. Since we got no idea how long the night here lasts."

"Oh here," Wesley said, pulling out the other bundle. "I've managed to get us some blankets." He gave them to Willow, who was standing near by. "I think it's best to make a make shift camp under those bushes there," he pointed. "From there we can see the town and the roads."

Faith and Willow nodded and made their way toward the bushes, followed closely by Spike and Wesley. Making the small camp was easy. They opted not to make a fire. Since it wasn't cold and it would only alert people to their proximity.

Spike surprised them all by pulling something that looked like bread and meat from out of his coat. 'His magical coat' as Willow was calling it already. He'd told them he'd already eaten something while down in the camp. They didn't ask what. Not that they didn't care, but because they trusted the vampire not to eat any humans, or humanoids.

"What do we do with our old clothes?" Faith asked, chewing on the bread. 

"We'll take them with us," Wesley said. "We can perhaps trade them for some of these." He had his glasses on his nose, peering down at a coin, to have a better look at. "It seems to be gold, with odd symbols on it. They appear to have a money system similar to the one in our world." he looked up from examining the coin he had taken out of a small pouch, to see the rest of the group staring at him. "What?" he asked.

"You look kinda cute with those," Willow giggled, pointing at his glasses. A small blush crept on her face.

"Though it does look very cute," Spike agreed, "I'm not sure if they wear glasses or even have something like it here."

"I'm not taking any chances on that," Wesley said, scowling at Faith who was smirking at him. He pulled off the glasses and put them back inside the pocket his coat again, feeling a brief flash of pride that he'd managed not to blush. 

They continued to eat the meal Spike had provided them with, in companionable silence. Then Spike and Faith lay down and were asleep fast enough. Covered by a thin blanket, while the thicker one covered the ground. 

Wesley had walked to the edge of the hill and was staring up at the sky. It was strange to watch. The stars were about every color of the rainbow, while the moon was blue purple, and like the sun, much closer to the planet than in their dimension. 

"Blue moon, I saw you standing alone," Willow's voice came from behind him. 

Wesley smiled at her as she joined him. "Quoting pop-songs now Willow?"

"You standing here and that moon just reminded me of it," She shrugged. "Can't sleep?" she asked.

"Not yet," Wesley admitted. "Too many questions going around in my head."

"Yeah, same here," Willow agreed. "It's funny though," she continued, wrapping her arms around herself. "How at ease I feel here, with you guys. How we all seem to fit together, like it was planned."

Wesley looked at her thoughtfully. "You're a very observant young woman, Willow," he said softly. "I was thinking much the same. Maybe it has something to do with our experiences in our own world, or because we are, as you called it, outcasts there." He looked at the moon again. "Only time will tell if it shall last, but I have a good feeling about this whole situation."

Willow nodded and looked at the moon as well. "Things sure are very different here, and we haven't even been in the town yet or anything. We're going to have to learn quickly and adjust a lot."

"We'll just take it one day at the time, or one moment even," Wesley said. He put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her toward their makeshift camp. "Let's get some sleep as well. I've a feeling we're going to need all the energy we can get come morning."

"Yeah, you're right," Willow yawned, "I'm beat anyway."

They both laid down, next to their two already sleeping friends, pulling the thin blankets over themselves. It wasn't long before either of them were asleep as well. The impressions and the long walk during the day had made them tired. 

Little did they know what they were about to face tomorrow in this strange new world. And perhaps that was just as well...


	4. Chapter 4

_Big thanks to Annalise and Eloise for beta reading this monster. Without them this fic would be a whole lot different and not of the  
good kind. ((Hugsss)))_

**Spoilers:** AtS S1 to 4, BtvS S3 and S5/6 I guess. At the beginning S4 of AtS and S7 of BtvS, Joss and I go our separate ways again.

**Disclaimer:** The boys and girls are not mine, I'm just playing with them.

**The Outcasts**

Entering the town of Vilnarsy had been, as Wesley had predicted, fairly easy. Once they had gotten themselves lost in the huge crowd of humans and other creatures, they were able to sneak into the town. Making sure to stick close together.

Once they entered the town, it was as if they had been thrown back in time...with a twist. Faith, Wesley, Willow and even Spike looked on in awe. They quickly found themselves a spot that was hidden in the shadows and looked at the picture that was painted before them.

There was a huge open square, the home of a mall...or as they would call it here, a market. From the looks of it, it was one of the big meeting areas of town. That it was directly on the edge of the town didn't seem to matter to anyone. There were houses and shops, big ones, small ones. Made out of wood, brick or material none of them could identify. The dwellings were painted in the brightest colors, yellow, orange, red, blue, only the roofs were a muddy brown. The roofs themselves were made out of straw or tiles, from what they could see. The shops, they noticed, were all white with the muddy color roof.

"Whatever imagination they lack in the fashion department, they certainly make up for in the architectural department," Wesley mused, looking around in awe.

The smells that assaulted their nostrils were different too. They smelled familiar scents such as salt, vinegar and cinnamon. There were also exotic scents they couldn't place, but these weren't unpleasant. 

"Look at all the herbs and spices," Willow said in awe. She wondered if those were used for cooking, or medicine or magic. Or quite possible for all of them.

There were different merchants, selling just about anything they could imagine. Meat, flowers, spices, odd-looking constructions, books, animals and, from the looks of it, slaves. They weren't sure if those were slaves, for all they knew, they could be farm animals. But they thought that farm animals, or animals in general, didn't wear any form of clothing.

There were all sorts of creatures, some reptilian in appearance, others more mammalian, with fur and paws. And of course there were humanoids, some identical to them, others with unexpected skin coloring. They quickly noticed that the men, or what they thought were men, wore dark earth tones and white. The woman wore brighter colors like green, blue, yellow, but no white.

There was a vast array of languages being spoken. Some Wesley recognized, others he didn't. But again, with some he could hear similarities to other languages. The language that could be heard spoken the most luckily seemed to be English. Sometimes with a thick accent, sometimes sounding almost ancient, but for the most part it was just plain common English.

In the middle of the market was a huge water-fountain, situated next to a well. Woman and men alike were hauling water from out of the well in pots and buckets. Next to the fountain there were people with small crowds gathered around them. One played with fire, one was apparently telling a story and another was doing impressive acrobatic tricks. 

"If I looked like a snake I could do that too," Faith scoffed, pointing at the direction of the acrobat. "Hell, I probably could do it now."

The roads inside the city were crudely paved with cobblestones. In some places there were huge potholes, one's neck if one were not careful. But for the most part, the roads and lanes looked well kept. There were carts being pushed around on the roads. Some were pulled by horse-like creatures, others were being pushed by their owners.

It was indeed a step back in time, because they noticed right away that this dimension didn't seem to have electricity, or any other 'modern' inventions, like steam powered machines. They did notice the use of wind energy. A small mill above the well made sure buckets of water kept being hauled to the surface. 

What they also noticed right away, were those dressed in a white and red uniform, carrying swords. Some of them were pulling apart fighting children, some were berating a merchant, others were leading away a dangerous looking, big man with a pale yellow skin, long red hair covering his face, his hand bound with rope in front of him.

"I bet those are the local police," Spike said. "Or soldiers, or guards or something. We should watch out for those," he pointed out.

"Indeed," Wesley agreed as he watched the huge man being led away. "We should also keep moving, lest we attract attention." He pushed himself from the wall he was leaning against, and casually started to walk in a direction that seemed less crowded.

Spike was right on his heels; hands pushed deep in side the pockets of his coat, hat effectively hiding his platinum blond hair. "What do you suppose we do now?" he asked Wesley, glancing over his shoulder to make sure Faith and Willow were following.

"Find a place to stay for now," Wesley shrugged. He curled his hand around the pouch with coins in his pocket afraid it might get stolen. He had no doubt there were, as in any civilization, thieves around.

"Want me to keep hold of that?" Spike asked, his hand already inside Wesley's pocket. He smirked at the exasperated sigh the Watcher gave him. "After all I'm a strong vampire and more capable of protecting...people and their money," he leered at Wesley.

"Do you mind?" Wesley growled, swatting Spike's hands away. "If you're so good at that you can protect me, because *I'm* keeping the money with me."

"Oh, I have *no * problem with that," Spike said, wriggling his eyebrows at the other man.

Wesley gave the vampire a confused look. "What's that supposed to mean? And get your hand out of my pocket!"

Faith and Willow kept close to the men, trying to look casual. They relaxed slightly when they seemed to leave the crowded market place behind and entered the less crowded part of town. Though things never seemed to really slow down.

"Man, this place is weird," Faith said, keeping her eyes open for anything that might look even slightly dangerous. She was strangely excited about this dimension. So much to learn, so much to take in, so much to adjust too, and no one around to judge her.

"Yes, but so interesting!" Willow agreed, eyes shining with excitement. "Look at all those creatures. I mean, who can tell what's a demon and what's not? Or do they even have demons here? What exactly is the definition of demon around here? There's obviously evil afoot, because why else would they have those guards," she babbled. "And did you see what they were selling? Those herbs and stuff? I can't wait to find out more about this place..."

Faith listened to the steady flow of words coming from Willow with a smile. Why had the girl ever irritated her so much? Looking in front of her her smile grew bigger as she watched Spike and Wesley bicker about everything and nothing. Yes, she thought, ending up in this dimension might just turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to her and her companions.

~*~*~*~

Asking around, they learned that there were more then enough 'Inns' or 'Boarding houses' around. Easily recognizable by their light pink colored brickwork. They settled for one near the market place, yet secluded enough not to attract any unwanted attention to themselves.

The owner of the place appeared to be a mouse-like woman. She had a short blue fur coat, and looked at them with beady little eyes that shone with curiosity and intelligence.

The place itself was smaller then most of the inns they had seen, yet big enough to be a reasonable hotel in their own dimension. It was clean and cozy. There was a fireplace in what they would call the lobby. Wooden beams graced the ceiling and the walls. 

A small water-fountain was placed against the right wall. They had noticed a similar fountain at other places. Wesley had deduced it was either an altar for some higher deity, or it had something to do with balance.

"Two rooms can do," the mousy woman said in English, though she had a thick accent. Her voice high pitched and her whiskers dancing up and down as she spoke. She glanced to the group in front of her and narrowed her beady little eyes. "Not here from," she said, not asking, but concluding. She spoke with a thick accent, obvious not used to talking in the English language much.

"Errr...yes, we're from out of town," Wesley said. Somehow he had become their spokesman. How that had happened he had no idea, but the others seemed more comfortable with hanging back while he did the talking.

The furry woman nodded and hummed. She looked at at Faith and Spike. "Strong, good fighters, learn much yet," she said. Her beady eyes drifted to Willow. "Powerful differently, yet strong as they, learn must much too." Then the woman looked at Wesley...and huffed.

Wesley resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Yes, let's point out that he was the only normal human in the group. No special magical powers, no super physical strength, just a lot of useless demon knowledge. 

"Learn most," the woman concluded gazing at him. She pushed a book toward him. "Sign," she ordered, pointing at the book. She turned around and got out two heavy, metal keys holding them out to them. "Pay forty," she then said.

Wesley sighed while he signed the book and got out the amount of coins from the little pouch. They took the keys and made their way toward their rooms. They had two small rooms outside, behind the hotel. The rooms had their own entrances, one of the reasons they had picked this place.

"You and Faith will be sharing a room?" Wesley asked Willow.

"Y-yes please," Willow said, giving the Watcher a grateful smile. Not that she didn't trust either Wesley or Spike, but the idea of dressing or rather undressing in front of either of them made her uncomfortable. "If Faith doesn't mind," she added quickly.

"Naw, it's cool with me," Faith said. She was actually glad to be sharing a room with the shy redhead. She wouldn't have minded sharing with Spike, though most likely they'd be encouraging each other into dangerous actions. Like going to a bar at nights, or patrol, which no doubt would lead to trouble. She didn't want to share a room with Wesley. Sharing a room with Wesley meant, she would see the scars she had inflicted on him, there would be no avoiding it; and she wasn't ready to deal with that just yet. 

"Alright," Wesley nodded, handing her one of the keys. "Let's get settled in and then meet in our room in an hour's time and discuss what to do next."

~*~*~*~

It had been about two weeks since they had come to this dimension. In that time they had learned a lot, yet had come no closer to answers to their questions.

Willow and Wesley had taken to visiting the market place and funny little shops, learning about the different species that lived on this world and their habits. Wesley had bought some books he just had to have. The rest had grinned at that, well aware of the man's passion for the written words. 

Willow had gotten some insights into the different herbs and their uses. Apparently, magic was not uncommon on this world. Though she had yet to see someone as powerful as herself. She learned that the herbs had several uses indeed. Cooking, medicinal and magical. 

She also found out something else. Her powers in this world were more...balanced, more in tune with the earth or the planet. She could draw from the elements and what she didn't use she could give back. Simply by touching her bare hand to the earth and let it flow back. She felt as if she knew what she was doing, in control. Something that had been lacking in her own world.

The two of them also had managed to sell their old clothes. They make sure to remove everything that they thought wasn't known on this world. Buttons, metal clasps and the likes. They had gotten a very good price for the pieces of cloth that had remained. The man from the textile shop had squealed in delight at the foreign fabric and payed them a handsome price.

Faith and Spike, unlike the other two, had taken to prowling around in dark alleyway's and in the more quiet parts of town. Looking around for anything evil and sometimes getting into fights. They also made a new discovery. Not only could Spike prance around in sunlight, but both he and Faith's strength had gone up several notches. They didn't know yet how much stronger they were, just that they were. Their senses also heightened, thus keeping them out of trouble most of the time, because they were more aware of their surroundings.

They also discovered that they had to be very careful with the guards of this town. The guards didn't want any trouble, and took no risks. They would haul people off to...probably prison or something, at the least signs of trouble. 

The guards were mostly accompanied by dog-like creatures, who resembled small swines. They would have been cute, if it weren't for the razor sharp set of teeth that were clearly visible. Both Faith and Spike had to stand by and watch once, as a pack of them got hold of a run away captive. It hadn't been a pleasant sight, and there had been nothing they could do about it.

All this made Wesley slightly on edge. He sat on the bed in his and Spike's room, thumbing through a book, glasses perched on his nose. He didn't wear them outside the seclusion of the room, since they had not seen anyone wear something similar. 

"Everyone gets an upgrade and my eyesight hasn't even improved," he muttered, feeling a bit left out.

"Well, they probably tried to upgrade you brain, but found out there was no room for it," Spike grinned. He'd been slowly trying to get closer to Wesley. He really liked the man. And now that he had the soul, he recognized that one had to take in other people's feelings into account. Unlike in the old days when Spike just took what ever he wanted. But either the Watcher was really clueless, not ready or he wasn't interested. That didn't keep Spike from trying off course.

"We like you anyway," Willow tried, giving Wesley a smile. She was pleasantly surprised at how well she got along with him now. They were able to share their love for books and thirst for knowledge, but Wesley had proven to be someone you could easily talk with, about anything. 

"Yeah," Faith said from her place on the bed. "You're our decision maker, no need to upgrade that big brain of yours. You always did make good decisions."

Wesley froze and winced. Because as he well knew, that wasn't true. And that brought back memories he didn't want to think about. He didn't want to think about how he had taken Connor in the mistaken belief he was saving both the baby and Angel. "I'm going to get some fresh air," he muttered and strode out of the room.

Spike quickly got up to follow him. They had made it a habit, never to go out on their own, always two or more, they had decided. "Nice going, Slayer."

"What? What did I say?" Faith asked, looking at an equally confused looking Willow for answers. 

"What's the last big decision he made?" Spike asked, looking from one girl to the other.

"Oh shit, Connor," Faith cursed. She jumped off the bed and strode out the door as well. Spike and Willow right on her heels. 

In the last few weeks the group had become very close. Sharing their thoughts, sometimes their feelings. Even Spike. Wesley, they found, had been the one they most often went to when they wanted to talk about something. The man was always willing to listen without interrupting and gave good advice. 

The problem was, Wesley himself wasn't sharing his thoughts or problems. He bottled them up inside. The others tried to get him to open up, with varying degrees of success, but they recognized that he wasn't ready to talk yet. They respected this. This didn't mean, however, that they were going to let him slip away, like his so-called friends at AI had done. 

Which is why they were currently running after him.

They found him a few streets away, watching a group of toddlers play. A lost expression on his face, his thoughts a million miles away. None of the others had to guess where those thoughts were at the moment, they knew.

Spike grabbing his arm jolted Wesley out of his memories. "Come on Watcher, let's go for a drink," the vampire said and dragged the other man behind him.

Faith and Willow nodded and followed. A drink might help them all relax a bit. They had found several bars, some small and homey, others rough and dangerous. The bar Spike chose to enter now, simply because it was the one close by, was something in the middle. Neither small, nor particularly rough.

They ordered something lightly alcoholic, sitting at a table in a corner. Faith and Willow kept up a flow of words, Spike pitching in here and there. Each of them keeping an eye on Wesley, who just stared into his drink.

Wesley recognized what his friends were doing. And he did indeed call them friends. They kept an eye on him, which he appreciated more then he was able to say. They were so very different from his former friends in LA. They cared. Not that his friends at AI hadn't cared, just differently. His new friends, didn't judge, didn't assume. And he was making an effort to open up to them, though it was hard.

They each let out a sigh of relief as Wesley joined in on the conversation, drawing himself out of those depressing thoughts. Spike stood up to get another round of...what ever it was they were drinking. Faith joined him, because she wanted something else to drink and didn't trust the vampire to get her the right stuff.

It was then, that an extremely drunk human stumbled over to the table Willow and Wesley were sitting. He slurred several rude remarks at Willow before he started to grope her. 

Willow looked shocked and moved out of the man's reach. This angered the man and he lunged for her. 

Wesley grabbed the man by his collar and yanked him off his feet. "I think you're being very rude," he hissed at the drunk. "You're going to apologize to the lady," he said, glaring dangerously at the man. Before Wesley could react, there was a flash of metal, followed by a searing pain ripping through his side. The grip he had on the man weakened and he could feel his knees beginning to buckle, faintly hearing Willow yell something.

Willow watched as Wesley grabbed her attacker with a sense of relief, which quickly turned to horror as the man pulled a knife from somewhere and stabbed Wesley in the side viciously. "Oh my god! Wesley!" she yelled, pushing away the drunk man with a force she didn't know she had. 

Grabbing the Watcher and holding him up with some difficulty, she could only stare helplessly as blood flowed from the knife wound, staining the white shirt red. She glanced around in panic for Spike or Faith as the drunken man advanced on her again.

Spike and Faith heard Willow's panicked voice yell for them. They didn't waste any time getting to their friend. Their eyes widened when the saw Wesley's red stained shirt and the drunk man with the knife advancing on Willow and Wesley. Without thinking they lunged and within moments a fully-fledged bar brawl was underway. 

Spike grabbed Wesley, pulling the other man's arm over his shoulder and dragged them outside. Willow on their heels and Faith bringing up the rear. Making sure to work out some of her frustration by hitting anyone that got in her way...hard.

Once they were outside, they could already hear several people calling for the city guards. "Dammit!" Faith cursed, "Let's move it people, quick!"

Spike dragged Wesley along toward an alley where they might be able to hide. Faith and Willow followed, keeping a lookout behind them. They could see the guards approaching, a lot of them, including their swine dogs. There was going to be a wide search for any participants in the fight. They needed to hide and quick.

Diving after Spike and Wesley into the alley they kept their eyes on the approaching guards. Some were running into the bar, and hauling out several of the fighters, some were starting to look around, getting closer and closer to where they were hiding.

"They're coming this way," Willow hissed as she watched Spike prop Wesley up against a wall. The white shirt now had a huge red stain, blood still flowing sluggishly from the wound. No way were they going to be able to hide that. She cursed the fact that they had left their coats at home, otherwise they might have been able to hide it with that.

"They're getting closer! Spike do something!" Faith hissed, glancing at Wesley's pale form worriedly. "There has to be something to hide his wound with." She urged.

Wesley was gripping the wall behind him for support. His were filled with pain, his breathing too shallow, his face much too pale. He looked at Spike helplessly, clutching his side, trying unsuccessfully to hide the bloodstain. He was swaying dizzily, struggling to stay upright.

Spike could hear Faith and Willow's panicked voices, the boots of the guards on the pavement getting closer and closer, the howling grunts of the swine dogs. He needed to do something or Wesley would be caught and hauled of to god knew where. He frantically looked around for anything he could use to hide Wesley or at least his wound with, still holding on to Wes' shoulder to make sure the man would be able to stand up. There was nothing.

"They're almost here!" Faith reported urgently, followed by an "Oh god, oh god," from a panicked Willow, who was flapping her hands nervously.

Wesley's breathing was now ragged and desperate, as the footsteps on the cobblestones came ever closer. So close now that they could almost smell the foul breath of the swine dogs, hot on the scent of the injured man's blood. They were almost upon them; there was no time left. 

"Oh sod it!" And without thinking, Spike pushed his body against the Watcher wrapping his arms around the other man, thus effectively covering any traces of wrong doings, bend his head and crushed his lips to Wesley's.


	5. Chapter 5

_Big thanks to Annalise and Eloise for beta reading this monster. Without them this fic would be a whole lot different and not of the  
good kind. ((Hugsss)))_

**Spoilers:** AtS S1 to 4, BtvS S3 and S5/6 I guess. At the beginning S4 of AtS and S7 of BtvS, Joss and I go our separate ways again.

**Disclaimer:** The boys and girls are not mine, I'm just playing with them.

**The Outcasts**

Leaning against the wall of the alley entrance, Faith and Willow tried to look casual. Willow had her back against the entrance and couldn't see the guards, but she could hear them. "What are they doing?" she whispered to Faith.

"Looking around," the Slayer whispered back. "How are they doing?" she asked, nodding her head back to where Spike and Wesley were.

Willow glanced over the other girls shoulder and blushed. "Uhm...kissing?"

"What?" Faith asked, eyes growing wide. She resisted the urge to turn around and look, because a Guard chose that moment to enter the alley. She tried to relax her tense body and gave him her best innocent look.

"You there," the Guard asked gruffly, pointing at the girls. "You sssseen anyone run passst here?"

Both girls shook their heads, trying to look afraid and intimidated. Which was fairly easy, since they were afraid. But not because of the Guard, they both knew that if they needed to, they could take him out. They were worried about their friend, who was possibly bleeding to death right behind them, while the Guard was asking stupid questions.

The Guard, a purply lizardly looking man, narrowed his yellow eyes at them. "You are sssure?" he hissed, his long thin tongue snaking in and out of his mouth. 

Faith and Willow nodded again, mumbling that they hadn't seen anyone come by. Silently willing the man to go away as quickly as possible.

The lizard-like man huffed and was about to ask another question when another Guard appeared at the entrance of the alley. Faith froze as she saw that this one was in the company of a swine-dog. Several other soldiers ran past the alley entrance,dragging their swine-dogs along. "Come!" the man called to his colleague, "There's a big fight going on in another bar, it has priority!"

The Guard, who had been questioning Faith and Willow glanced past them at the couple farther away in the alley. He moved to walk toward them. Both girls held their breath and tensed, ready to attack the man if needed. But then he turned around quickly and left the alley without another word. The girls let out a sigh of relief and quickly turned around toward the men...who were still kissing. 

Or rather, Spike was kissing, Wesley was doing his best to stay conscious. 

"Spike, he needs to breathe at one point," Faith said, unable to hide a small grin. 

At the sound of the Slayers voice, Spike pulled back and turned to look at them. His arms being the only thing keeping Wesley upright. "Is the coast clear?" he asked urgently. They needed to get the Watcher to their rooms and stop the bleeding fast.

"Yeah," Willow answered, "They've been called to something else. We got lucky. Let's get back to our room and take care of Wes," she urged.

Spike nodded and slung Wesley's arm over his shoulder. "Let's get going Wes," he muttered at the rather dazed looking Watcher. Carefully Spike walked in the direction of their rooms, pulling a staggering Wesley with him.

"Wow," Willow started, "That was..."

"Hot," Faith finished.

"I was going to say, a strange diversion tactic, but hot works too," Willow nodded.

They quickly followed Spike and Wesley. Willow hovering on Wesley's other side, in case he would fall. Not that she would be able to do anything, but she felt better where she could keep an eye on him.

Faith ran ahead of them, making sure no-one would take notice of them, or if they did, wouldn't get in their way.

It took them about half an hour to get back to their rooms. Once there they carefully lowered Wesley to the bed.

Spike gently removed the bloodied tunic. Wincing along with Wesley as the crude fabric scraped the wound. The wound itself was still bleeding sluggishly, the vampire had to hold back from the intoxicating smell of the blood that was invading his nostrils.

Wesley pushed himself further up the bed to sit against the pillows. He groaned loudly and his hand automatically clutched his side. He pulled a face when he felt the blood sticking hotly to his hand. 

"Shit, that looks bad," Faith said, peering at the wound. "We should have looked into doctors or whatever around here. This was bound to happen sooner or later."

Wesley had turned his now ruined tunic into a ball and was pressing it to the wound. "It's not so bad, Faith," he said with a strained voice. "I'll be alright once the bleeding stops."

That remark earned him several snorts and a few raised eyebrows. 

Shyly Willow sat down next to him. "I...uh...I can help you," she started. "I...I don't know how...how much I can do with this planets energy, b-but I know I can stop the bleeding." 

She wrung her hands together. This would be the first time she had tried any major mojo. Thus far it had only been a bit of practicing, flower blossoming here, a bit of transportation there. Willow had found that the elements were very important in this dimension and she could use them to her advantage. But this was important; she would be toying with the life of her friend. And she didn't want to toy with it; she wanted to know what she was doing.

"I..I mean I won't go too far, just what I know I can do. And...and I can stop the bleeding I know that, and probably repair some internal damage. But I don't know if it'll hurt or not, or if you'll need rest or..." a finger on her lips stopped her babbling. She looked up into Wesley's pain-filled blue eyes.

"It'll be fine, Willow," he said removing his finger from her lips to touch her cheek. "I trust you, you'll do fine," he smiled at her.

Willow turned around nervously to look at Spike and Faith. Spike nodded at her encouragingly. Faith smiled. "You can do it Wills," she said.

Willow nodded and toed off her soft leather moccasins, so she could be in more direct contact with the earth. "Right...uhm...," she moved toward Wesley again and her hands hovered over the wound. "Try...try to relax," she advised.

Breathing deep, Willow concentrated on the powers around her. She could feel the elements of the earth seeping into her system, giving her strength. Placing her hands on either side of Wesley's wound she closed her eyes and concentrated on the healing. A yellow glow enveloped her hands and then grew wider to cover the entire wound.

Gasping for air, Wesley did his best to relax. He could feel heat spreading around the wound, a tingling sensation at the center of it. The pain became less and he felt better every second it lasted. He watched amazed as the wound closed slowly and the bleeding stopped.

Willow opened her eyes and the yellow glow faded away. She looked at where the wound had been at Wesley's side. It was gone, only a huge bruise was left. "That's...going to be sore for a while I think," Willow said, giving the Watcher a nervous smile. "But...but I think I repaired most of it."

"Wow!" Faith looked at the redhead impressed. "That was wicked cool, Willow," she said, obviously in awe.

"Thank you," Wesley said softly, tugging on her hand. Willow leaned closer, hugging him. "You're welcome," she blushed. "You're so very welcome," she whispered. She'd been scared to death doing this. But she had been more scared at the thought of losing Wesley.

"You're getting better at this," Spike said. He looked at Wesley relieved, glad that the eminent danger now appeared to be over.

Wesley slid down the pillow to lay down, exhaustion clearly visible on his face. "That was awfully close," he started, "I don't think this city is very safe." Not that LA or Sunnydale had been safe, but at least they knew what to expect there.

"Maybe we need to get out of the city, see what else is going on in this dimension," Faith offered.

"Yeah," Willow said, "We're not getting any answers here. We've been trying to find some for weeks now."

Spike nodded his agreement. "Those Guards are getting closer to us. There's no way to tell what they'll do when they find out that we're not merely from out of town, but from out of dimension."

"So we skip town as soon as we can?" Faith asked.

They all turned toward Wesley for answers. The man in question however, had fallen asleep on the covers of the bed, exhaustion finally catching up with him.

"I'll guess we'll talk more about this in the morning," Spike grinned.

"He needed to rest anyway," Willow said. She gently removed the moccasins from Wesley's feet and then looked at the covers. The nights may not be cold here, but she would feel better if Wesley was under the thin blankets, the man was recovering after all.

She was helped in her predicament by Spike, who carefully lifted Wesley up a bit, so Willow could turn back the covers, and pull them over the sleeping man after Spike put him down again.

"I wonder what he's going to say in the morning?" Faith mussed.

"About what?" Spike asked, "leaving town? I don't know."

Faith smirked at him. "No you moron, about the kissage. You've been dying to do that haven't you?"

Spike grinned back. "I would have preferred a different situation though," he said turning serious.

"Well, you'll know more when he wakes up," Willow said, opening the door. "We'll see you guys in the morning."

"Good luck," Faith winked and followed Willow out the door.

~*~*~*~

When Spike woke up the next morning, he could tell Wesley was awake, by the rate of his heartbeat. He chanced to open one eye and glanced over at the man.

Wesley was lying on his back, hands under his head, staring up at the ceiling. His thoughts apparently a million miles away. Spike's eyes gazed down to look at the spot where yesterday had been an ugly knife wound. He was relieved to see that all that remained was a huge bruise. Slightly painful maybe, but not, thank god, life threatening.

"You kissed me," Wesley's voice suddenly came, sounding rough. Apparently getting stabbed had shaken the man more then he let on.

Spike looked at the man startled. The Watcher hadn't removed his eyes from the ceiling, how had he known the vampire was awake? "Yes," Spike said, not coming up with any excuses like 'I was trying to rescue you.'

"You saved my life," Wesley continued, blinking up at the ceiling.

"Thank god for that," Spike answered, "or whatever deity is in charge of that here."

Slowly Wesley turned to look at him, eyes impossibly blue. "Why?" he wanted to know.

Spike blinked. "What?" he asked sitting upright. "You're not serious! You're my friend, _our_ friend. We like you a lot and we need you here. Not just because you're clever and smart, but because you're you. You think we would just leave you there to die? No bloody way!"

Wesley gave him a soft smile of gratitude. "Thank you, but that's not what I meant," he whispered. "Why did you kiss me?"

Gazing into those blue eyes Spike sighed. "Seemed like the thing to do," he shrugged.

"Oh," Wesley nodded. He turned his head again to stare at ceiling. "Well, thank you anyway."

Frowning Spike looked at the man for a few moments. "Oh, bugger it," he muttered, tossing off the covers. He paced toward Wesley's bed and then back to his own again. "Look Wes, it's not just that, it's just...," Spike sighed and raked a hand through his hair. "It wasn't the ideal moment I would have chosen for it okay?" He turned to look at the other man.

Wesley looked at vampire thoughtfully for a moment. Letting this new bit of information sink into his brain. "So...you enjoyed it? The kissing I mean," he asked softly.

"Yeah, very much so," Spike smirked. He sighed and sat down next to Wesley on the bed. "Listen pet, I'm sorry. I was going to take it slow, seduce you properly and all that. Hell, I had already started that."

"I did...notice," Wesley said, clearly uncomfortable. He pushed himself up in a sitting position and looked down at his hands.

Spike waited for him to say something more, but apparently Wesley didn't have anything more to say. "Yeah well, I probably did it all wrong. It's the soul you know, wants to do things right. I probably bollixed things up. Shit, I don't even know if you're into...you know.. men."

"I did go to an all boys school," Wesley whispered, finding his fingernails very interesting. "And that's about as far as my experience goes." He glanced up at Spike and then looked down quickly again.

"So you're not...averse to the idea?" Spike asked hopefully.

"Yes...no...I don't know?" Wesley sighed. This was so confusing. He rubbed his temples. "It's just that...I'm not good at this sort of thing. And we need to be able to depend on each other, and we're going to spend god knows how long together on this planet," he struggled to explain, trying to find the right words.

"So," Spike said again, "You're not averse to the idea?"

This time Wesley did look up. "No?" he tried, holding Spike's gaze for a moment before looking down again. 

"Hmm," Spike nodded, trying very hard not to grin. "Maybe I can convince you a little more." He brushed his fingertips over the bruise on Wesley's side. "You okay?" he asked.

Wesley winced slightly, but gave the vampire a tiny smile. "I'm fine," he assured the other man keeping his eyes downcast.

"Good," Spike nodded. He leaned forward, put his fingers under Wesley's chin and tilted his head up. Then he very carefully leaned in, giving Wesley every possibility to move away or stop him. 

He didn't. 

And a few seconds later their lips met for a long, gentle kiss, that lasted until Wesley felt the need for oxygen. They pulled back slightly, lips mere millimeters away from each other. 

Spike gazed into Wesley's glazed over eyes. "How does the idea sound now?" he asked. He knew he was smiling like an idiot, and he didn't care.

"I'm not sure," Wesley muttered against Spike's lips. His hand came up to brush through the vampires blond curls. "I think I might need a little more persuasion," he smiled slyly at the other man.

Spike was only happy to oblige, wrapping his arms around the Watcher, pulling him closer. This was better then he had dared to hope for, this had potential.

They were so engrossed in each other, that neither of them heard the door open, the small 'meep!' from Willow and the door quickly closing again.

~*~*~*~

"They're...uh...busy!" Willow squeaked quickly, turning around to face Faith. She was blushing ferociously.

Faith smirked at her shade of red, almost the same color as the Witch's hair. "Busy huh?" she grinned. Good for them. "So Wes is a lot better this morning?" she asked, worry apparent on her face.

"From the looks of it, I'd say...yes," Willow nodded, a smile gracing her lips. She thought her two friends would make a cute couple. She hoped they could make it work, not knowing how things were in this world.

Then she remembered Tara and smiled softly.

"You miss her," Faith said, noticing the witch's expression.

"Yeah," Willow whispered.

"Tel me about her?" the Slayer asked, thrusting her hands in her pockets.

Willow took a deep breath. Remembering Tara, her Tara. "She was kind, and sweet and very strong," she began. "And much better at magic then I was, she knew how to control it." She wiped away tear that rolled down her cheek as she remembered the girl she had...still did...loved so much. "And she didn't take any crap from me either." She looked up and gave Faith a shaky smile.

"Sounds like someone I would have hurt in the past," Faith said honestly. "Now? Now I think I would have liked her." 

Willow fumbled inside her tunic, looking for something. She had hidden it, since she hadn't seen any of those in this dimension either. She took out a small picture. It showed a young blond girl, smiling shyly at the camera. She held it out to Faith. "Tara," she whispered.

Faith looked at the picture. "Pretty," she said. Hesitantly she looked at her friend. Faith was never one for physical comfort, but something inside her just wanted to hug the witch. "Aw screw it," she muttered and moved to embrace the other girl in a tight hug.

Smiling a bit more brightly, Willow hugged back and then put the precious picture back in her pocket. "Yeah, so anyway, those two," Willow said, jerking her finger over her shoulder in the direction of Spike and Wes' room.

"Hot," Faith muttered.

"Hot," Willow agreed.

"But, you're gay. And you think the guys are hot?" Faith was puzzled.

"Yeah so?" Willow huffed. "Doesn't mean I can't admire a handsome piece of...of...manflesh!" She rushed on. "And anyway, I'm Bi," she said, blushing uncomfortably again.

Faith frowned at her for a few moments and then smiled. "Cool," she winked. "So...what are we going to do while the guys are...busy."

"We can go to the market?" Willow opted, glad that Faith was done with the subject of sexuality.

"Sure why not," The Slayer shrugged. "We can talk a bit and you can show me what's so exciting about this market."

Willow grinned and fell in step with Faith, walking toward the market place. "It's just you know, strange and new and unlike our world."

"Everything here is unlike our world," Faith said, "Fuck *we're* different here."

"Yes and no," Willow agreed. "We've all been through a lot in our world and we were being...I dunno...measured? By what we all did. It's like we're getting a second chance here."

"Yeah," Faith muttered, "Can't say I'm against that. I like it here. I like you guys strangely enough. I wonder if we all would have gotten along like this in our world. You know, if we would have met up again."

"I don't know," Willow said thoughtfully. "But I doubt it, there would have been things in the way, other people, constant reminders, stuff like that."

Faith nodded. "I like the sound of a new beginning. If only we knew more about this world and how we got here and why."

"Me too," Willow agreed. "And I like that we're getting to know each other so well. It's like we can be ourselves here, nothing to hide, no one to judge us, just you know....be ourselves. A bit of a dysfunctional family." she laughed.

They entered the, by now, familiar market place. The exotic scents invaded their noses; strange foreign languages buzzed in their ears, and a constantly changing colorful picture painted itself before their eyes.

They walked around the place lazily. Willow eagerly pointing out several things she liked so much, Faith nodding indulgently at her. They were about to go back to their hotel rooms again when a man waved at them and smiled.

They had met this man shortly after they arrived in this dimension. He resembled a small cuddly bear, with orange intelligent eyes that were never open too far. 'Chinese eyes' Spike had called them. His fur was reddish brown and he gave off this grandfatherly vibe. The name he had given them had been unpronounceable by everyone bar Wesley. So they had settled for a crude form of it and called him Mister Lutaos. The man didn't seem to mind this.

Smiling the two girls walked toward him. "Good morning Mister Lutaos," Willow said politely, while Faith nodded at the man.

"Good morning little sorceress," he said bowing toward Willow. "Good morning little dark warrior," he bowed toward Faith. Both girls found themselves doing the same.

"Not your usual companion," Mister Lutaos remarked nodding at Faith.

"Eh no," Faith grinned, "Her usual companion is...busy...this morning."

"But he is alright?" Mister Lataos asked, a worried expression on his face.

Both girls looked at him surprised, eyes widening. "How...?" Willow asked.

"Ah," the man said, eyes twinkling. "There are eyes and ears everywhere here. I heard you had a spot of trouble last night. The little scholar is alright though?"

"Oh yes, he's fine," Willow reassured the man, looking around uncomfortably. Eyes and ears everywhere indeed. "He's with the little...light warrior," she said giggling at the names the man had bestowed upon them.

"This city is not safe," the man told them. "You must seek answers soon, the Guards are on your trail. They do not like other worlders."

"How did you know that?" Faith asked surprised. "Those ears and eyes tell you that?"

"Just my own eyes," the small furry man smiled. "Not many will notice. You are good at hiding yourselves. But you also have this knack of having trouble find you. They will notice you sooner or later."

"Yeah well," Faith huffed. "We've been trying to find answers, only to find more questions."

"Ah," the man hummed again. "You do not yet know the workings of this city. You must ask its protector," he nodded toward them.

"And who or what is that?" Willow asked curious.

"I shall give you a hint," the man said, humor tainting his voice. "We are a city of water," he told them, glancing from one girl to the other. 

"Huh?" Faith blinked. "What's that mean?"

"Your little scholar will know," the man said mysteriously. "I have to go now, my lady awaits. Good luck on your journey, may you all find what you are looking for." And with that he bowed his goodbye, smiled at them and shuffled away.

"I guess we'll go and ask Wesley," Willow said, watching the bearlike man walking away.

~*~*~*~

"But that makes no sense!" Wesley complained. He was pacing back and forth just outside their room, glasses on his nose, book in hand. He leafed through the book again, muttering to himself. The others looked on, amused, sitting on the bench just under the window of their rooms.

Faith and Willow had come back, telling their friends what Mister Lataos had told them. Wesley had immediately launched into a research session, with Willow's help. Faith and Spike had watched for a moment, before becoming bored. They then had taken up a sparring session just outside the rooms, where no one disturbed them. 

Until Willow drug Wesley out into the fresh air and warm sun for a break. That hadn't lasted long, because she had been unable to prie away the book he was currently studying.

"Wes," Spike interrupted the man's muttering and pacing. "Why don't you share with the class what you have right now, we can be your sounding board."

Wesley turned around to frown at his friends. Sighing he pulled his glasses off and pinched the bridge of his nose. Replacing them again he peered into the book. "Well, according to this, every major city or...or province, has an elemental protector of sorts. This can be water, fire, air, earth, what have you. I'm not sure what exactly the elements all are here."

"We already knew that much," Faith shrugged. "So now what? This is a city of water, do we go to the ocean and ask it what's the what?" she half smiled.

Wesley's head suddenly jerked up and he pointed at Faith, gazing at her.

"What?" the Slayer asked, looking from Willow to Spike confused, pressing herself into the bench.

"Of course!" Wesley snapped his fingers. "Why didn't I think of that? Shrines!"

"Come again?" Spike asked, obviously confused.

Willow jumped up excited. "The little fountains they have everywhere?" she asked, almost sure that was what he meant.

"Exactly, that has to be it," he said. Pushing his glasses inside his pocket, he made his way over to the Inn. The others followed him. Willow excited and with her mind racing. Faith and Spike just confused. But they figured that their two friends were more at home at the gods and goddesses kinds of things, they trusted them to know what they were doing.

Entering the lobby Wesley looked around for the mousy innkeeper. It would only be polite to ask her if they could use her...shrine, at least he hoped that was what it was. 

The small furry woman was standing behind her desk, gazing at them with her beady little eyes. "Yes?" she asked.

"Uhm we were wondering," Wesley began politely. "If we may use your..err...watershrine?"

The woman frowned, or at least it looked like she was frowning. "Why?" she asked simply, whiskers bouncing up and down.

"Because," Spike said, ignoring Willow's and Wesley's look of annoyance. Faith hid a snicker behind her hand.

"We would like to ask your town protector a question," Willow answered the woman's question.

Very clever, Wesley thought and looked at the redhead with pride. This way they would indeed find out if the little fountains inside the buildings were shrines of some kind.

The mousy woman glanced from one person to the other. "Okay." She shrugged and pointed at the fountain. "She in good mood today." And having said that, she turned around and got back to work.

No one was sure what the innkeeper meant about the good mood. Herself or the water deity. They just hoped she meant the city protector. They could do with some luck, not to mention some answers. They walked over to the fountain and looked at it.

It was made of some material similar to marble. Painted in bright rainbow colors, it resembled something of a small porcelain sink. Only with a spray of water in the middle. Willow thought that perhaps comparing it to a sink wasn't very polite.

"So," Wesley said, folding his arms in front of his chest and staring at the fountain. "Anyone have a suggestion or an idea how we do this?"


	6. Chapter 6

_Big thanks to Annalise and Eloise for beta reading this monster. Without them this fic would be a whole lot different and not of the  
good kind. ((Hugsss)))_

**Spoilers:** AtS S1 to 4, BtvS S3 and S5/6 I guess. At the beginning S4 of AtS and S7 of BtvS, Joss and I go our separate ways again.

**Disclaimer:** The boys and girls are not mine, I'm just playing with them.

**The Outcasts**

Blinking, our four travelers looked at the water fountain...shrine. "Good question," Willow mused. "I mean, maybe we should have brought gifts. But what do you bring a city protector? Beads? Or maybe fruit or flowers," her eyes widened. "We don't have to sacrifice any goats or something do we?" she turned to look at her companions nervously.

"Why don't we just knock and ask if she's home," Faith shrugged, ignoring the eye-roll Wesley gave her.

"Might work," Spike nodded. And with that he took a step forward and knocked, a little too loudly, on the marble behind the fountain...shrine. "Anybody home?"

Willow and Wesley gave him an incredulous stare, while Faith didn't even try to hide her snickering. "Thank you Spike," Wesley began, sarcasm creeping into his voice, "I'm sure that will..."

They all watched in awe as the water in the fountain suddenly swirled around and rose before them, shimmering in their vision. Her skin was made of water, the bright rainbow colors of her shrine reflecting off her glistening body like a beautiful mosaic. Her eyes were blue-green as the sea, and her hair tumbled in little waterfalls, flowing from her head. She wore a small deep-green tunic that didn't cover much, obviously worn for modesty's sake, as it looked like she had thrown it on in haste. When she spoke, her voice was the soft whisper of water bubbling over pebbles.

"Other worlders," she smiled, "we finally meet."

"Pardon us...err..miss," Wesley said politely. He wondered briefly if one were to bow to a city protector. "You seem to have us at a disadvantage, you know us? About us?"

The Deity turned to him and gave him a sad smile. "Still so suspicious," her voice tingled, "Not everything or everyone can be trusted or distrusted."

"Cryptic much?" Willow blinked at the Deity.

The water creature tilted her head to her side as she regarded Willow. "Young Sorceress," she said. "You are well on your way to learning balance, yet have a long way to go. You'll need to learn to share with the planet and balance this sharing. You'll need to learn when to give and when to take. But you will, once you let go of what cannot be changed," she smiled. "You are strong enough."

"She's a Higher Being alright," Spike scoffed, "She's not making any sense."

At this the water creature turned to where Spike was standing next to Faith. She looked from the Slayer to the Vampire. "Young Warriors. So alike yet not," she told them. "Born enemies, yet friends, darkness turned light. Such contradictions." She looked at them both puzzled for a while. "You both must learn how to balance your physical and mental powers. You are more worthy then you think, once you let go of what cannot be changed." 

Her eyes flickered for a moment over to Wesley and then back to Spike. "You've already found your way of balance, now you need to fight and work for him," she said, with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Yours is nearer then you think," she told Faith, "But it will take time."

"Right, well," Wesley began, hoping to move on quickly before the water Deity would get cryptic on him. "We have some questions and we were told that you might be able to answer those?"

The water creature regarded him for a moment, long enough for Wesley to begin to squirm uncomfortably. He was unable to repress a muttered "bugger" when the Deity opened her mouth again to speak, almost knowing full well what she would say.

"Young Scholar," her voice said, sounding like waves softly flowing to the shore. "So strong, trying to do right, no matter what the cost to yourself. You must learn to trust and let others enter your heart. Only then, can you be the leader you are." She nodded. "You must let go of what cannot be changed, of what is not your fault. You are strong enough," she told him. 

"And you will only grow stronger together," she smiled at all of them.

The four of them stared at the City Protector. Unsure of what to say. She obviously had insight into who they were and what they were. 

"But that still doesn't answer your questions," The Deity said with a singing voice, giving them a mysterious smile. "The answers you seek are not within these city walls. You must find the Visionaries, they are the only ones who can give answers to your questions."

"And where can we find these Visionaries?" Wesley asked politely.

"I do not know," the water creature shrugged. "But my brother in the city across the ocean will know. I've heard him talk about them, he might be able to point you in the right direction."

"We thank you for your time and...err...help," Wesley said. He bowed slightly, somehow feeling it was appropriate. The others quickly followed his example, muttering their thanks as well.

"I wish you a fruitful and safe journey," the Deity said, while she began to swirl around again. "And remember, apart you may be strong, but together you are a family, and therefore stronger," her voice sang out from the swirl of water, before it disappeared again into the water fountain, and turned it into a normal water fountain again.

~*~*~*~

"The Higher Beings are different here too,"“ Faith said once they were in their rooms again, "What she said actually wasn't all that cryptic."

"Or," Wesley smiled at her, tapping her lightly on her forehead with a finger, "You're already doing what she said. Using that brain we all know you have."

Faith grinned and swatted at the finger. "Yeah, yeah I know. Spike and I need to control our temper."

"Oy!" Spike protested, "There's nothing wrong with my temper!"

"No there isn't," Wesley agreed. "But you need to find a balance, know when to use it and when not and _how_ to use it." He turned to look at Willow. "Just as Willow is learning how to balance her magical powers. Learn how to use it the best way, share with the planet and learn how to use her magic to its fullest."

"Listen to your way of balance speak, Spike," Faith grinned at Wesley, who turned a nice shade of red.

"We all need to let go of the past," Willow said softly. "Obviously, we're all clinging on to that too much. Like the Deity said, we're dwelling on things that can't be changed. We need to be ourselves here, be comfortable with who we are. And I think we're getting there."

"Exactly," Wesley agreed. "Now let's see if we can find out more about this 'City across the ocean,'" he said, trying to change the subject.

"Nuh uh," Faith shook her head, staring him down.

"What do you mean nuh uh?" Wesley asked, feigning ignorance. He had hoped to change the subject so they wouldn't have to talk about what the water creature had said about him.

"Nuh uh, not so fast. Watcher-o-mine." Faith folded her arms over her chest and looked at him. "She said you needed to learn to trust others and let them into your heart," she started. "Now Angel and Queen C may have let you get away with your hiding into your shell thing, but I'm not planning on doing that. That's what got you into trouble in the first place." She looked at Spike and Willow, who both nodded.

"I'm trying," Wesley sighed, forcing himself to look at his friends. Spike's hand in the small of his back reassuring him, making him feel a little more at ease. "It's just that I'm not used to..." His voice trailed off and he winced. He seemed to be saying that an awful lot here. And wasn't that the entire point? He was suppose to learn so that he would get used to people caring about him and not letting him run off and make decisions on his own.

"We're not judging you, Wes," Willow pointed out. "We'd be the last ones to do that. I mean what we all did was far worse then what you did. You tried to do the right thing and got burned bad. We killed people." 

"That might be," Wesley said. "But you were struck by grief," he pointed at Willow. "You were in a very bad place, lost and alone with no one to help you," he pointed at Faith. "And in your case it was the demon." He said looking over his shoulder at Spike.

"True," Spike agreed leaning in for a quick kiss, just because he could. "But we all still have to learn to live with it, as you will need to learn to live with what you did. And that's not going to happen if we keep on dwelling on the past."

"I'm glad we all agree on that," Wesley smiled softly. "Shall we let go of the past and look forward? More precisely at finding out more about this city across the ocean?"

"Research," Willow nodded.

"Research," Wesley agreed.

"Come on Slayer," Spike said, reluctantly removing his hand from Wesley's back. "Let's go do our own more direct form of research and ask around some."

~*~*~*~

Research had quickly taught them just exactly what city was meant with 'city across the ocean'. It was the city of Maxion. There was only one way to get from Vilnarsy to Maxion, and that was by ship. A sea journey that would take at the very least two months.

Asking around in the huge harbor of Vilnarsy had proven pretty quickly that they could not afford to buy a passage across for one person, let alone four. Not even on the cheapest ship. That left them with two options.

One would be to sneak aboard a vessel that was going to Maxion and be a stowaway. Willow and Wesley might be able to hide away for about two months, though even that was doubtful, Faith and Spike most assuredly would not be able to sit still for a period that long. They couldn't even sit still for a day.

That left option two. They had to find work on one of the ships that went to Maxion. This, they found out, was easer said than done. Most ships didn't hire unknown faces, and though woman aboard ships were not uncommon, they were looked down upon because they were not deemed physically strong enough. 

This had set Faith off ranting about emancipation and backward dimensions. But that still didn't change the fact that after two weeks of asking around, there were only two ships that might hire all four of them.

Or just one ship actually.

The Captain of The Tormente, had turned out to be the huge, dangerous, yellow skinned man the Guards had led away when the group had first entered Vilnarsy. He was absolutely filthy, obviously never having heard of the concept of bathing, and neither had his crew. 

He was only know as 'The Captain' or as the group had baptized him 'Captain Bully'. He treated his crew as less then dirt if he wanted to. Because he could. Faith, Willow and Spike had witnessed him beating one of his crew viciously because the man had accidentally dropped some cargo. There had been no harm done to the cargo, but the Captain had not been pleased.

Faith and Willow had both been itching to say or do something, but before they had a chance, Spike had jumped to the fray. He grabbed the Captain by the throat and had slammed him against the nearest wall, the vampires eyes flashing yellow. Spike then continued to hurl insults at the man, telling this Captain exactly what he thought of him.

In the end, Willow and Faith had to forcibly drag Spike away before he started a physical fight with the huge man. Not that they were afraid Spike would get hurt. Quite the opposite actually. No matter how big the man was, he'd be no match for a furious Spike. And the girls didn't want to attract any attention to their group. Well, at least not more then Spike was already attracting with his actions.

Since that little incident The Captain and Spike threw each other deadly glares whenever they saw each other. Luckily neither of them had physically attacked each other. And the only reason that had happened was because they were held back by, in Spike's case his friends, and in The Captain's case his crew.

So, The Tormente was out of the question.

This only left The Cynosure. A big ship with various forms of cargo. One of which was live cattle, which Spike had pointed out would come in handy. He demonstrated this by pointedly licking his lips. The others had grimaced at that, but understood his meaning.

The Captain of The Cynosure was a tall, muscular human man named Traxda. Captain Traxda, they had learned, was a stern but righteous man. He reminded Spike of the old sea Captains of his time. Firm but fair. They might be able to plead their case with Captain Traxda if they put it properly. 

Which was why they were currently at the harbor. Leaning against a small wall, Willow and Faith stared at the ship. Spike was behind the wall leaning over it, in a glaring contest with Captain Bully, until the man moved away. Wesley was sitting against the wall, head tipped back, eyes closed, enjoying the relative peace and quiet.

"Hunk alert ten o'clock," Faith said, poking Willow in the ribs with her elbow.

Willow's head swirled to the point the Slayer had mention to see a shirtless muscular man working at a nearby ship. Sweat dripping down his well tanned skin, muscles rippling underneath, long blond hair flowing down his back.

"Guh," Willow blinked.

"Drool," Faith agreed.

"Bibble."

"Thud."

"Nah," Spike interrupted, staring at the man in question. "Too many bulky muscles, probably no brain."

"Yeah," Faith smirked. "We know you like them leaner and with lots of brain." She stuck her tongue out at Wesley as he looked up to glare at her.

"And besides," Willow said, poking Spike in the chest. "Why are you looking at _our_ pieces of hunky manflesh when you already have a hot boyfriend?"

"Yes, well," Wesley said clearing his throat. He stood up and glared at the grinning group. "When you're all done with the ogling, perhaps we can talk to the Captain of The Cynosure." Having said that, he quickly walked away, blushing ferociously.

Though Wesley and Spike had gotten closer over the past weeks, there had been nothing more between them then a few stolen kisses and hand holding when they felt safe. Wesley had made it clear to Spike that he wanted to take it slow, needed to get used to the idea, needed to get comfortable with this before taking any next steps.

Spike had smiled and agreed. He had recognized that it had taken Wesley a lot of effort to just tell him that, sharing what he felt. And it was the fact that Wesley had taken the effort to tell him, that told Spike they would be alright, even though it might take them a little longer to be openly comfortable around each other as a couple.

Faith and Willow had helped a lot by making sure Wesley knew that neither of them minded the new relationship one bit. In point of fact, they were encouraging them. This made Wesley feel a little more at ease. Though he could do without the teasing, he knew they didn't mean any harm. It was the way families worked, teasing each other. When he thought about it really hard, he knew he really didn't mind at all.

~*~*~*~

Captain Traxda looked at them with narrowed eyes. They were in his cabin and he had listened to their case. "I have work for the men," he said, "but I'm not so sure about the women," he said honestly. "One of you girls know something about calculus?"

Willow shyly raised her hand. "I'm...uhm...very good with numbers and such," she said softly. 

"Good," Captain Traxda nodded, "You can assist our mapmaker. She is our doctor's wife and could use a hand juggling the map-making and nursing." He stared at Faith. "I'm afraid I don't have anything for you. We don't need a cook or a cleaner.”

To her credit Faith did not react to his words by loosing her temper. Cook or cleaner indeed, she thought. Instead she planted her hands on her hips and stared at him. "I happen to strong enough for hard work," she said, tilting her chin up, daring the man to disagree.

Captain Traxda looked surprised. "Really? And can you prove this?"

Faith blinked. Could she prove this? How was she suppose supposed to do that? She turned and looked at Wesley who shrugged. He made a fist and mimicked arm wrestling. Faith's eyes widened. The man had wicked cool ideas sometimes... well, most of the time actually.

She turned back to the Captain. "I challenge your strongest man, or woman...err...or whatever, to an arm wrestling match," She said, hoping that they knew what the hell arm wrestling was in this dimension.

Captain Traxda pursed his lips and looked at her thoughtfully. Then he nodded, "Alright, if you win I'll hire you all." He stood up and walked out of the cabin, the group following him. 

Once on the deck, the Captain called out. The man that appeared was an enormous giant of a man, with green skin, teeth like a horse and elfin like ears. Faith dubbed him 'the hulk' right away. The green skinned man towered over them, but the smile he gave them was friendly and warm. "Yes Sir?" he rumbled toward the Captain.

Captain Traxda pointed at Faith. "You will arm wrestle with her. If she wins, I'll hire her. Make sure you play fair." Having said that, he stepped back and waved for them to get on with it.

Faith immediately dropped on her stomach, propped up her elbow and held out her hand.

The huge man looked down and then back at the Captain, before hesitantly doing the same. Surely the Captain didn't actually mean that he should arm wrestle with this petite girl? He was going to break her arm! He didn't like that idea.

The grip Faith gave him, when they twined their hands together, surprised him. It was far, far stronger then he expected. At the Captain's word, the fight began and he found out that underneath that deceptively delicate frame, was an incredibly strong woman. She was winning and wasn't even sweating.

Faith grinned at the green man and very easily pushed his hand further toward the deck. She had no real trouble. Though the man was strong, she had a feeling he was holding back, maybe afraid to break her arm or wrist. He seemed the friendly sort. But that was alright with her, she wasn't going all out herself.

And indeed without breaking a sweat, Faith pushed the green man's hand onto the deck with a loud thud. She looked up triumphantly at the Captain. Who looked clearly impressed. "You're hired," he nodded. Turning to the group he said "Get your things together, we're leaving this afternoon."

The group hurried to the make shift home and gathered the few personal items they had gathered during their time in Vilnarsy. They said goodbye to the few friends they had made here; Mister Lutaos, the mousy innkeeper, a few merchants and bartenders and quickly made their way over to The Cynosure. Getting ready to begin a new adventure, a voyage across an unknown ocean to a distant land.


	7. Chapter 7

_Big thanks to Annalise and Eloise for beta reading this monster. Without them this fic would be a whole lot different and not of the  
good kind. ((Hugsss)))_

**Spoilers:** AtS S1 to 4, BtvS S3 and S5/6 I guess. At the beginning S4 of AtS and S7 of BtvS, Joss and I go our separate ways again.

**Disclaimer:** The boys and girls are not mine, I'm just playing with them.

**The Outcasts**

It had been two weeks since The Cynosure sailed out of the harbor of Vilnarsy. Working on the huge sail-ship was hard but satisfying. Willow spent most of her time below deck, working with Miranda the ship's mapmaker and reader, learning a lot from those maps. Not only did they have maps to guide them across several oceans, but also maps of the dimension they were in. It was a lot bigger than they could have thought.

Faith, Wesley and Spike worked on the deck most of the time. Learning how to sail, since none of them had a clue as what they were doing. They were learning fast though, mostly with the help of their new green skinned friend,now christened the hulk. 

They got along with most of the crew. The Captain was mostly aloof, giving orders and putting himself above the crew, as their commander. There was the ship's cook, a funny little man who could out babble even Willow. There there was Jack, who took care of the livestock, a tall human with long hair and piercing eyes. His best friend was a strange creature who resembled a fluffy pig the size of a man, named Gordo. They were never apart, if you saw one the other wasn't far behind. The entire crew of The Cynosure certainly was a colorful mixture.

Wesley had learned from the cook that the ship carried a mystical device for the production of fresh water. All the ships owned by the major cargo companies carried such a device. There was a code of the sea involving this tidbit. When a ship approached waving a certain flag, it was the duty of the cargo ship to give them fresh water. No matter what the other ship was.

Faith had been struggling the first few weeks with sea sickness. Spending most of her time hanging over the railing, complaining loud and long that it was unfair that Slayers would get sea sick, since they were...well, Slayers. Which had earned her a smirking lecture from Wesley on the nature of slayers and their oh so human fallibility.

After having spend over a hundred years in the shadows, Spike had made it habit of walking around without his shirt when ever he could. Enjoying the warm sun on his skin. And on his head, since the hat was no longer needed it seemed. No one had looked up surprised or had attacked, when a gust of wind had blown off the hat one day. So the hat, to great regret of the others, was no longer needed. 

The vampire was developing a nice tan, after being burned to a crisp at first. In the beginning he had made a point to be stoic about this, after all he was a tough vampire. But after Wesley offered to rub some medicinal oil onto the burned skin, Spike made sure to complain about the burns to Wesley. Even though it wasn't actually needed. Wesley wasn't fooled of course, but didn't mind playing along. Not at all.

And then there was Jeremiah, the ship's parrot. A normal exotic parrot, just like the ones they knew from earth. 

"Goddam stupid bird!" Faith yelled, followed by her mop flying through the air. Jeremiah laughed loudly and just moved a little to the side. 

"Stupid! Stupid sod!" the bird agreed, bouncing up and down on its feet.

"You do that one more time and I'm gonna turn you into a featherless bird!" Faith pointed at him. 

"Not polite! Bugger!" Jeremiah scolded her, tilting his head to gaze at her.

"Fuck if I care! You're a little chicken-shit anyway, hiding away out of reach," Faith emphasized her point by throwing the bucket of water at him. 

"Chill dude! Clean the poop-deck! Clean the poop-deck!" the parrot yelled, neatly sidestepping the flow of water thrown at him.

"You do realize that you're arguing with a bird?" Wesley voice came from behind the Slayer. He was carrying three cups of what passed for coffee in this dimension, handing one to a giggling Willow and holding the other out for Faith. "And I do believe he's picking up your language. Chill dude? Really Faith," he said giving her a mock scolding look.

Faith muttered something under her breath and thanked him for the coffee. 

"Man, what I wouldn't give for a descent cup of mocha-latte," Willow sighed, making a face as she sipped the brown liquid. 

"Some actual tea would be ideal right about now," Wesley agreed, wiping sweat of his face with the sleeve of his tunic. Setting down the brown liquid, he reached to remove the tunic so he could cool down a bit. When he was half way he noticed Faith's look and the catch in her breath. Sighing regretfully, he put the tunic back on. 

He was one of the few who kept wearing the tunic on hot days like these. He'd noticed that while he was going around shirtless, Faith would stare at the scars she had inflicted on him with a strange look in her eyes; regret, guilt, sorrow, and she would wince and avoid him. After noticing that, Wesley kept his tunic on. But he'd made a mental note to talk to Faith about this. It was done, it was in the past, she needed to let it go.

"I could do with some good music," Faith said thoughtfully. "Where's Spike?" she asked looking around.

"Right here Slayer," Spike said walking toward the group. He was coming from below decks, licking his lips. "Personally, I think the cattle here tastes a lot better than on earth," he grinned. 

"Well, that's at least something," Wesley said, staring at the brown liquid in his cup. He made a face and tossed the rest overboard. "Let's go Spike, we're supposed to be doing some repairs."

"Right behind you, handsome," Spike grinned. Wesley let out an exasperated sigh and walked off after saying goodbye to Willow and Faith.

The girls watched as the two men walked away and Spike sneaked a quick grope of Wesley, giggling as Wesley turned and glared at the Vampire.

"I wish Wes would loosen up some," Faith said, keeping one eye on Jeremiah who had come closer again.

"He's trying, but it's hard. You can't just forget over thirty years of routine," Willow told her. "I think he's getting better, at least he wasn't blushing," she giggled.

"Pity," Faith grinned, "I like making him blush, it's just so damn cute."

"What were you staring at when he had his shirt off?" Willow asked abruptly.

Faith looked at her startled, then regained her composure. "Why? Jealous?" she smirked.

Willow gave her a soft smile. "Maybe," she teased. "But you're trying to move away from the subject. You were looking at the scars, weren't you? The ones you gave him?"

Sighing Faith sat down next to her, rubbing her face. "Look Wills, I'm not good at this talking shit, but yes. Yes I was."

"That's what I thought," Willow nodded "It must be hard, having a constant reminder of your past mistakes walking around all the time."

Faith winced at that. "That's not how I see or think of him," she whispered.

"Then stop treating him like that. Stop living in the past. It happened, you said you were sorry, you went to jail for it, it's done. If Wes can forgive you why can't you forgive yourself?" Willow asked.

"Can you forgive yourself for what you did?" Faith shot back.

Taking a shaky breath Willow thought about that for a moment. "Forgive? Okay, No, I don't think I ever could. Learn to live with it? Yes, with your help and Spike and Wes', I'm learning to live with it. What I did was awful and there really isn't an excuse. But I need to move on and do what's right now." She turned to look at Faith. "Somehow we've all been give an second chance and I don't want to mess it up. And I don't want you to either."

"I need to move on," Faith nodded. She was twisting the cloth she used to clean with in her hands. "Do...do you think I should...talk? To him?"

"I would," Willow said. "But you have to move fast. I think he's steeling himself to talk to you about it."

"Huh. He would," Faith smiled. She looked at Willow thoughtfully for a moment. "Thanks Wills," she said truthfully. "Who would have thought way back in Sunnydale that we'd end up as friends some day."

"Not me!" Willow grinned. "But I can't say I mind. It's funny how things turn out." She turned to give Faith a comforting hug.

"Ship Ahoy! Ship Ahoy!" Jeremiah suddenly screeched, flying from where he was perched to the bow of the ship. 

Puzzled the girls stood up and walked to where a crowed had already gathered. A ship was approaching. "It's carrying the saturity flag," someone muttered.

"Oh bugger!" Spike said as his vampire sight gave him a better view of the ship.

"What's wrong?" Willow asked.

"Shit," Faith muttered, having had a good look at the approaching ship also.

It was The Tormente.

~*~*~*~

"Just steer clear from this Captain fellow," Wesley told Spike.

"What if I accidentally trip him and he falls overboard?" Spike grumbled.

"No," Faith hissed. "We don't want any trouble." She blinked and paused at saying that. Who would have thought that she, Faith, would not want trouble?

"And what if he starts?" Spike wanted to know.

"Then you be the bigger man...err...vampire and walk away," Willow said, showing her no nonsense face. "We mean it Spike, no trouble!"

"Oh alright," Spike said, holding up his hands in defeat. "I'll give the git a wide berth. Shouldn't be too much of a problem, he stinks."

They watched suspiciously as The Tormente came closer, until it was drifting alongside The Cynosure.

"Ahoy!" The Captain bellowed. "We need fresh water and call upon the code of the sea!"

"Yes, we shall answer," Captain Traxada said, waving his hand in front of his face. The smell from the other ship was nauseating.

"Good," Bully shouted back. "We would also make use of some of your repair tools. We ran into some trouble a while back." The grin he threw them was positively nasty.

The Tormente's sails were ripped. They looked as if a cannonball had gone through them. There were also some minor damages to be seen to the ship itself.

"But of course," Captain Traxda answered again, though one could tell he wasn't happy about it. 

"They's trouble," Gordo whispered at Wesley. "They's no good, nothing but trouble." The pig-like man scrunched his nose up, glaring at other ship. "But they's might be good for some games, win some coins," he nodded as if pleased by that idea.

"Just make sure ye don't get in any trouble yeself," his friend Jack scolded. 

"Course not," Gordo answered highly offended. "I ain't suicidal."

Willow glanced at them, having heard the conversation. The sooner The Tormente would leave, the better she thought. Soon would not be soon enough.

~*~*~*~

Staying out of Captain Bully's way had been far easier then Spike imagined. Of course it had cost him several glaring contests, a shouting match and almost a physical fight to get the man to back off.

Captain Traxda, not a foolish man, had helped a great deal in the matter. Recognizing the Spike and Bully time bomb, he'd made sure to entertain The Captain for the time The Tormente was being fixed. This was a hard matter for Traxda, since Captain Bully *did* indeed stink and neither of them had anything in common.

The crew of both ships avoided each other when ever possible as well. Unless there were Sinto games. A game played with cards and dice. Both Faith and Spike had grown highly interested in the game, and more importantly, the bets that came with it. Between the two of them, they had upped the group's fundings considerably.

The Tormente had been around for a week now and most of the repairs were done. Their group, along with rest of the crew of The Cynosure hoped the other ship would leave soon, or even better...yesterday.

Wesley was leaning over the railing, staring up at the colorful stars. He made sure to be as far away from The Tormente as he could, not only did the crew smell, the ship itself stank too.

"Penny for your thoughts," a voice came from behind him, "or whatever currency they use here."

Wesley smiled and turned around. "I was just looking at the stars and hoping that bloody ship would leave soon," he told Spike.

"Well not before the big game tonight," Spike said. "Faith and I have some heavy bets going on."

"I suppose I should be glad they're not playing kitten poker," Wesley smirked, remembering the stories Spike had told him.

Spike moved closer to Wesley, planting both hands on either side of him on the railing and thus effectively trapping him. Not that Wesley minded. 

"Why, you little pillock," Spike smirked.

"Git," Wesley shot back.

"Sod."

"Wanker."

"Not yet," Spike leered at Wesley. 

Wesley smiled, removing his hands from the railing. He snaked them around Spike's waist and pulled him closer. "Patience," he whispered, looking into the vampire's blue eyes.

"I'll just take what I can get then," Spike said and before Wesley could answer he captured the other man's lips with his own. He pushed his tongue passed the Watchers parted lips, tasting salt and something sweet mingled together. 

Wesley sighed into the kiss, his hands moving in slow circles on Spike's back. When he felt the vampire's hand in his hair, pulling him even closer he groaned, the sound muffled by in Spike's mouth. God, he loved kissing this man, he could spend hours doing just that. Tasting Spike, salty and coppery with an underlying dangerous current.

Someone clearing a throat loudly made them pull apart, albeit reluctantly. They looked up to see Faith smirking at them.

"Did you still wanna go to the game, or are you too...occupied," she grinned at Spike.

Grinning back Spike didn't let go of Wesley. More importantly, and this pleased Spike, Wesley didn't let go of him. Usually the other man moved away, keeping an appropriate distance when around others. Now, Wesley kept his arms where they were, around the vampire's waist. Progress, Spike thought, was a good thing.

"If you promise to keep him out of trouble I guess he can come play with you," Wesley said, managing to look serious.

"Thanks Dad," Spike said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"You're welcome son," Wesley winked.

"I'll make sure he stays out of trouble," Faith laughed, glad to see Wesley loosening up a bit. "let's go Spike."

"Hang on," Spike said. He turned around and captured Wesley's mouth for a hard breathtaking kiss. Causing the other man to let go of the vampires waist and clutch the railing. "Let's go," he told Faith. "Don't wait up," he winked at Wesley.

Wesley blinked at him and snorted. "Have fun," he said, watching Faith and Spike walk over to the other ship.

~*~*~*~

"I did not cheat you miserable sods!" Spike bellowed. It wasn't the first time those two rats from The Tormente had accused him of cheating, but it would be the last, he'd had enough. Grabbing one of them by the scruff of the neck, Spike tossed him over the table. Cards and dice went flying in all direction as the man ended sprawled on the floor.

The other man, much bigger then his friend, lunged for Spike only to end up with the vampire's steel fist in his face. 

"Spike!" Faith yelled. "Knock it off, we don't want any trouble." She was itching to get into the fight, but she was trying to control her temper. All thoughts of control went flying through the window when one of the rats was approaching Spike's back with a knife. 

Faith jumped, grabbed the man by his arm and twisted it hard. She could hear bone cracking. "That wasn't very fair," she hissed in the man's face. 

The ratty man squeaked and struggled loose, immediately running to stand by his friend's side. "You'll both pay for this!" He hissed at them, clutching his arm to his chest. "We know exactly how to get to you two!"

"Oh yeah? Well good luck trying," Spike snorted. He picked up their winnings and pushed them in his pockets. "We'll take these, since we didn't cheat." Turning around on the balls of his feet he stalked out of the cabin.

Faith glared one more time at the ratty men. "Don't get any wild ideas or I'll break something other then your scrawny little arm," she warned them, before running after Spike.

"Damn, those rats play dirty," Faith grumbled.

"They're dirty inside out," Spike agreed, walking over the plank back to The Cynosure. He jumped on-board and looked up staring at the sky. "It's odd." He said.

"What?" Faith asked, jumping aboard the ship herself. "The stars? I think they're pretty."

"No," Spike answered. "Those men. Not that long ago I was one of them," he sighed. "Dirty inside out."

"You were never dirty outside," Faith grinned. "But I know what you mean," she added more seriously. "You're not like that anymore. Now I'm no good at lecturing, that's more Willow and Wes' thing." She folded her arms in front of her chest and looked at him. "So I'll repeat what Willow told me." Holding out her hand she ticked off her points, "In the past, not you anymore, second chance, get over it, move on."

"You're right," Spike agreed. "Your lectures suck. I'm sure the one from Willow was better."

Faith rolled her eyes. "Hahaha. But you're getting the idea, right?"

"Yeah yeah, I get it." Spike said. "Move on."

"Yup," Faith nodded, stifling a yawn. "I don't know about you, but I'm beat. I'm going to turn in. See you tomorrow."

"Sounds like a plan," Spike said and followed her down below. "Night."

Arriving in the cabin he shared with Wesley, Spike was surprised that the other man was still awake. 

"Thought you'd be asleep by now?"

"It's not *that* late yet," Wesley pointed out. "I'll be back in a second, Miranda wanted to ask me something about the maps she and Willow were working on." Giving Spike a quick kiss he opened the door. "Don't wait up," he winked at Spike and moved out the door.

"Funny man," Spike grumbled. He undressed quickly and flung himself on the bed. He was fast asleep within moments.

~*~*~*~

When Spike woke up, he noticed Wesley's bed hadn't been slept in. "Probably been up all night philosophizing about god knows what with that Miranda bint and Willow," He muttered.

Quickly washing and getting dressed he walked out of the cabin. He headed to the kitchen to get some of that coffee wannabe stuff to wake up. Nursing the cup in his hand he walked up the stairs onto the deck.

"Morning sleepy head," Willow said cheerfully, looking up from her conversation with Faith.

"You're awfully cheery for someone who spend the entire night studying and talking," Spike said, joining them.

"What do you mean?" Willow asked, making a face as she sipped the dark liquid.

"Weren't you up al night talking shop with Wes and Miranda?" 

"No," Willow looked at him puzzled. 

"Hey, look to your right and see the good news!" Faith pipped up. "The Tormente is gone!"

"Thank god for small mercies," Spike said, looking over to where the night before The Tormente had been. "When did they leave?"

"No clue," Willow answered "And I can't say I care. I'm just glad they're gone."

"Either of you two seen Wes?" Spike asked.

Both Faith and Willow shook their heads. "Not since last night," Faith said.

"Hm, strange. His bed hasn't been slept in, so I thought he'd spent the night talking again with that Miranda bint. He was going over there before I fell asleep."

Willow frowned at him. "He was?" she asked. "That *is* strange, we were expecting him but he never showed up. We figured something had gotten in the way."

Spike suddenly had a very uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something wasn't right here.

"Tormente gone! Bully gone!" Jeremiah screeched at them. He flew down on the deck and began walking back and forth between some barrels. "Look! Look!"

"Shut up, stupid bird," Faith muttered, "It's far to early to be bitching with you."

"Look! Look!" Jeremiah insisted while he kept walking back and forth between the barrels. "Tormente gone! Wes gone! Bully gone!"

Willow walked toward the parrot and sank on her knees to look behind the barrels. "I think he wanted to show us this," she said standing up again. In her hand she held a pair of glasses. 

They only knew of one person who wore glasses. Wesley.

"Those are Wes'" Spike said, plucking the glasses out of Willow's hand. He gazed at them accusingly as if they would give him an answer.

"Wes gone! Tormente gone!" Jeremiah told them again.

The group stared at each other in horror and then back at where The Tormente had been. "Oh god," Willow whispered, catching onto what the parrot meant. 

"Fuck!" Faith agreed, hitting the railing hard with her fist.

The Tormente was gone. Wesley was gone. One and one...is two.


	8. Chapter 8

_Big thanks to Annalise and Eloise for beta reading this monster. Without them this fic would be a whole lot different and not of the  
good kind. ((Hugsss)))_

**Spoilers:** AtS S1 to 4, BtvS S3 and S5/6 I guess. At the beginning S4 of AtS and S7 of BtvS, Joss and I go our separate ways again.

**Disclaimer:** The boys and girls are not mine, I'm just playing with them.

**Rating for this chapter is hard R for violence and torture people!**

**The Outcasts**

Willow was starting to panic. Never before had she wished more that Wesley was here. And wasn't that a strange occurrence, given their past in Sunnydale. But she did wish it. Not only because she was worried sick about Wes, but also because she was having a hard time calming down Spike and Faith. Wesley had proven to be far better at that task. Taking a few deep, calming breaths she turned toward the discussion, or rather shouting match that her two friends were having with Captain Traxda.

"Why the fuck can't we go after that ship?" Faith demanded to know, hands on her hips, looking very intimidating. 

Spike growling and prowling close by didn't help matters. Most of the crew of The Cynosure had wisely either moved to a safe distance or completely out of sight.

"They took Wes!" Spike yelled. "We're going after them and getting him back *now*!"

"We can't," Captain Traxda tried to explain again calmly, reasonably. It was becoming increasingly difficult to stay reasonable. He understood these two and their need to rescue their friend, but they really needed to calm down.

Spike and Faith both started to talk at once, trying to outshout each other, both looking very close to hitting something, or someone.

"Guys!" Willow shouted. She had enough. This wasn't helping them, and it certainly wasn't going to help Wesley. She turned to Traxda, after giving both her friends a scolding look. "Why can't we go after The Tormente?"

Captain Traxda pointed up toward the sails. "We have no wind," he said, glancing at Faith and Spike. If they wouldn't have been quite so busy with their shouting, he could have told them that about an hour ago.

"Then how did The Tormente get away?" Willow wanted to know.

"They cheated," Captain Traxda said. His entire posture and the tone of his voice spoke of disapproval. 

"They what?" Spike asked, having calmed down a bit. "How's that?"

"They used their mage to create wind and get away," the Captain explained. "It is against the code of the sea," he huffed. "But what else can you expect from a gang of pirates."

"Pirates?" Faith asked, not that this new information actually surprised her. "If you knew they were pirates then why did you help them?" She sounded angry again, rage flaring up anew.

"They were carrying the flag, it is the code of the sea," Captain Traxda said as if stating the glaringly obvious.

"Whatever!" Spike said waving his hand dismissively. "How do we go after that bloody ship, since obviously you people don't cheat."

"Uhm..." Willow raised her hand tentatively as if asking for permission. "I...I can call the winds you know. A-and get a locator spell going to find out where they went."

Both Faith and Spike turned to look at her, relieved. They both felt more then a bit foolish, because they should have thought of that, they should have though of Willow's abilities.

"That is if the Captain doesn't mind," she said, giving the Traxda a look that spoke volumes. He'd be very sorry if he did mind.

"You can do that?" the Captain asked, obviously impressed. These people kept surprising him, there was more to these four than met the eye.

Willow nodded and concentrated. She breathed in and out, meditated, calling upon the energy of the planet. She felt a pang in her chest as she remembered that it had been Wesley who had taught her these meditation techniques.

A soft wind started to blow over the ship. Willow opened her eyes and looked at the Captain. "So?" she asked, "We're doing this?"

Traxda nodded briskly and turned on the balls of his heels, stalking toward the helm of the ship. "Hoist the main sail!" he barked toward the crew.

"Hoist the sails! Hoist the sails! Scrub the poop-deck!" Jeremiah agreed. "Hurry! Hurry!"

"Can you this Wills?" Faith wanted to know, staying close by her friend.

"Yes," the witch answered softly. "But I won't have much energy left for healing, I'm not that balanced yet." They were both thinking the same thing. Healing was going to be needed if their worst fears came true. Thank god there was a doctor on-board.

"Just get us to that bloody ship fast Red." Spike said. His voice was rough and tight with the emotions he was trying to suppress. He feared the worst as well.

~*~*~*~

Wesley woke up in a world of pain. He'd known pain before, more times then he'd cared to remember. But he couldn't quite remember being in this much pain. His entire body ached, hurt, and burned.

With some effort he lifted up his head. He sighed in disappointment and despair when he found he was still where he woke up the last time. It hadn't been a nightmare, he was still on The Tormente.

The sun was still scorching his skin. He was only wearing what passed for underwear in this dimension. But modesty was the last thing on his mind right now. Survival was the first thing. And this surprised him. It wasn't all that long ago that he would have welcomed death with open arms. When exactly this had changed, he wasn't quite sure, but he was sure it had something to do with three other people.

Three people he worried about. What had happened to them? Where were they? Where they safe?

His wrists were bound and he was dangling from a pole that was slammed into the mast of the main sail, toes barely touching the wooden deck below. There was something slowly trickling down his arms. Painfully he lifted his head higher to look up at his wrists. 

The ropes that bound him, were cutting into his flesh, so deep that blood was flowing out of the wounds. His hands were swollen and purple, no feeling left in them. Trying to flex fingers he could no longer feel proved futile.

Thirsty, he was so thirsty. How long had he been hanging here? It must have been quite some time. His skin was blistering from the extreme heat of the sun on his exposed flesh. His head was pounding, one eye was almost swollen shut and he could feel more dried up blood on his face. He recognized the sharp pain in his torso as broken ribs. He had no doubt this was all the result of the beating he had received the last time he had woken up.

He remembered one of those ratty men had stopped him on The Cynosure, asking a question. Naive as he was, willing to help them with whatever problem there might have been, he had followed him. As a result they knocked him out and he woke up here, on The Tormente. Why he was here, he didn't know.

"Well, well, lookie here who honored us with his waking presence again."

Wesley's eyes tracked to the left and looked straight into Captain Bully's face. The stench coming from the man made him sick. The stench coming from the ship made him want to vomit. He recognized that smell. It was the smell of death, of decaying bodies.

"It's a pity we had to damage you, pretty boy," The Captain smirked, moving the point of a blade over Wesley chest, pressing into the skin hard enough to leave a small trail of blood. "You would have brought us a good price at the slave market."

The knife moved up to trace the scar on Wesley's throat. It was an effort not to swallow reflexively. But he found he couldn't actually swallow, his throat was dry and it felt like he had been eating glass. Very much like it had, just after Justine had slit his throat.

"But at least we've got our revenge on that bastard," Bully continued. "That'll teach him to treat me the way he did."

"And that bitch!" a small, nasty looking man spat from behind the Captain. 

"Yea," Bully grinned. "That'll teach them not to mess with my crew; cuz then I'll mess with what is theirs."

Wesley still said nothing, eyes moving slowly from one man to the other, with a look he knew could freeze fire. The others were safe then, he thought. Otherwise they would be here. 

It was obvious that this Captain Bully wasn't one for mind games. Wesley even wondered if the man had a brain. No, this man was one for physical violence, reveled in it, felt empowered by it. No wonder he disliked or even hated Faith and Spike so much. They radiated power without even having to resort violence, even when they could. Willow radiated the same power.

"What's the matter," The Captain drawled, tracing the knife over the scar again, this time leaving a small trail of blood behind. "Did your tongue dry up?" 

Wesley looked from one man to the other and then smiled. Because for the first time in a very long while, he knew, he just knew, his friends were coming to get him. They weren't going to leave him here, not a chance, no way, no how. And just thinking about that, made the pain hurt a little less and his grin grew bigger.

"What are you smirking at?" Bully demanded to know. "Something funny? Care to share, cuz I don't see anything funny here for you!"

"He's making fun of ya Captain! He's laughing at ya!" the ratty man squealed, cradling his broken arm to his chest. "Ya gonna let him get away with that?"

Captain Bully's eyes narrowed as he watched this strange man. This creature, this low-life was actually laughing at him! "Get the whip!" he bellowed, shaking with rage.

The small ratty man was only too happy to oblige. He quickly came running back with a leather whip in his hand, gleefully grinning at Wesley as he handed it over to his Captain.

"I'll teach you a lesson boy! One you ain't gonna forget soon." Bully walked around Wesley facing his back, raised his arm and with an incredible loud crack the leather whip connected with Wesley's bare back.

Gritting his teeth, Wesley's head dropped forward, his entire body tensing. He was still able to smirk through the shallow pants he was breathing as the instrument ripped away the skin on his back and legs, blood flowing down onto the deck.

"I'll make you scream, pretty boy! I'll make you pay, you and those friends of yours!" Bully yelled, raising his whip to tear into the flesh of Wesley's back over and over again.

Wesley felt a boot connecting with his stomach, and last thoughts before the peaceful blackness enveloped him again were of Spike, the girls, and the fact that he hadn't screamed. He was rather proud of that achievement.

~*~*~*~

Spike was pacing around the deck of The Cynosure. They'd been following the Tormente for two days now. Getting closer, but not close enough. He was worried, afraid, angry, and he didn't know how to deal with these feelings. It had been over a century since he had them. Now they were slamming into him at full force. It was one of the first times that he started thinking that getting his soul back had been a bad idea.

Except it wasn't. If he didn't have his soul, he wouldn't have had strong feelings. He wouldn't have worried about his friends, he wouldn't have been afraid for Wesley's life. he wouldn't have felt the strong love he had for Wesley. He wouldn't have known the joy and warmth that came from being a family. It was just hard to find a balance in between those feelings, and without Wesley around, it was twice as hard.

A hand touched his shoulder and rubbed it gently. "We'll get him back, and we'll kick some pirate ass," Faith told him.

"That Bully is mine," Spike growled.

"Our first priority is to get Wesley of that ship, anything else comes after that," Faith warned. 

"Yeah," Spike agreed, "I know." He turned to look at Willow.

She was standing in the middle of the ship, concentrating hard. She had one locator spell going and was using the elements of the planet to call wind and move the ship. Sweat was dripping down her face, her body tense.

"How's Red holding up?" he asked.

"She's getting low on energy but she says we're getting close. We should catch up with that ship sometime during the evening. Which is good, cos then we got the darkness to cover us." Faith said, looking over at Willow worriedly. She was afraid for Wesley, but worried about Willow. It might be too much for the witch, but she trusted Willow to tell them if she couldn't handle it anymore.

At that moment Willow opened her eyes and the wind dropped to a soft breeze. "We're close," she announced. "We'll have to wait here till nightfall."

Both Faith and Spike turned to look into the direction Willow pointed. They could barely make out the shape of a ship in the distance, and only because of their super senses.

"Can you feel him?" Spike asked, not needing to explain who 'him' was. 

"Yes," Willow smiled, happy to find out Wesley was still alive. But then her smile faded. "He's holding up, though it's getting harder."

"How long before nightfall?" Faith asked.

"A few hours," The Hulk rumbled from her left. "When you go over there, I'll be going with you. I want to help," he told them, making clear that refusing said help would not be an option.

"I get feeling we'll be needing some help," Faith smiled gratefully at him. "A few hours," she muttered.

She could only hope they wouldn't be too late, having only a vague idea of what might have been done to her Watcher. She swallowed the bile in her throat as she remembered what _she_ had once done to her Watcher. Quickly pushing that thought away, she moved to get ready for the rescue. Thoughts like that wouldn't help her now, nor would they help Wesley.

~*~*~*~

"You amaze me with your ability to find new ways to disappoint me, Wesley."

Wesley blinked but kept looking down. He knew that voice, he feared that voice, he _hated_ that voice. But that voice couldn't be here. Not here, not now, not in this dimension. It was impossible, though not surprising. Not really.

Painfully Wesley lifted his head to look at the owner of the voice. It annoyed him to notice that the man wasn't even sweating, even when he was wearing the customary Watchers uniform in the form of a tweed suit. Then Wesley berated himself for that thought, after all the man wasn't real, was he?

"You are given a new chance, again, and what do you do? Hm? Answer me son," Roger Wyndam-Pryce said, his voice conveying disgust and disapproval.

Wesley just kept staring at the man, unsure of what to do. Years of drilling made him automatically stand up straighter. Only he couldn't stand up, his toes were barely touching the ground he noticed. And where did all that blood on the deck come from? He'd have to look into that later.

"Forgotten your lessons boy? Do I have to remind you again?" His father moved closer, his boots echoing on the eerily quiet ship.

There was no one around, Wesley noticed. How odd. He concentrated on his father again, knowing full well that if he didn't there would be hell to pay. Though he would have never thought it, being locked in the cupboard under the stairs was starting to sound oddly appealing. At least is was better then what he was currently going through.

"Dilly dallying around with that slayer tart, that incompetent witch and a _vampire_. Another Vampire, boy?"

"He has a soul," Wesley managed to get passed his swollen, parched lips. He could feel several cuts opening up again. 

"That doesn't change the fact that he's a foul creature. You are always so naive, so stupid. Why did I even bother trying to train you? A complete waste of time to try and make something out of a natural born failure," Roger scoffed.

Wincing at the familiar words, Wesley did his best to hold his head high. To find that it was becoming increasingly difficult. The words stung, like they always had. But they didn't hurt like they had done before. Again, odd.

"I'm sorry," Wesley whispered, the words tumbling out of his mouth automatically. Years of saying the same thing time and again to this man, made him say these words without thinking.

"For what? For being born?" his father asked harshly, pacing up and down before him. "A little too late for that, isn't it?"

Trying to follow his father with his eyes was making Wesley dizzy. And what _was_ he sorry for, now that the question was asked. For never being good enough? Hardly his fault. For messing things up royally? Yes, that was his fault, but he was only trying to do the right thing. For being a disappointment? To whom exactly. Not to Spike, or Faith, or Willow. And really, that was what mattered to him right now.

"Actually I'm not," he rasped, looking the image of his father straight in the eye. 

Roger Wyndam-Pryce turned around sharply, ice cold blue eyes boring into Wesley. "You think I don't know? You think I don't know about you and that...creature?" he spat.

Wesley didn't flinch, didn't back off, he just gazed levelly at his father. "I love him, and I don't give a rat's arse what you think about that." 

He did flinch when his father raised the oh so familiar hand and he did flinch when it came closer to him, but he didn't back down. He kept looking right into his father's eyes.

Gasping he looked up startled, only instead of his father, the ratty looking man was laughing at him, showing off a row of rotting teeth. In his hand he held an empty bucket. 

It was then that Wesley felt the salt water seeping into his open wounds. God it hurt! He wanted to scream, yell, curse. But he didn't. Looking down he could see the salt sea water mingling with red blood. _His own blood_

Looking up he fixed the nauseating man with an ice cold glare, rivaling that of one Roger Wyndam-Pryce.

"Thought you could do with some cooling down," the man said, giving him a nasty smile. 

"Fuck that," a new voice whispered from above.

Indeed, Wesley thought and then frowned, hurting every known and unknown muscle in his face. _That_ voice sounded familiar too. Without lifting his head, he glanced upward, as much as he could with one eye almost swollen shut. 

Jeremiah was sitting on the mast, fairly close by, looking curiously down at him. "Sod it," he told Wesley seriously.

Wesley's eyes drifted back to the nasty little man again, who was looking at him suspiciously. 

As the salt water bit into his skin, into cuts, bruises and blisters, he thought of his friends. Close by now, coming to get him. It felt like coming home, it felt safe, this is what friendship was, it felt right.

And Wesley smiled.

"Ye can wipe that smile of yer not so pretty anymore face!" the nasty little man barked. "We know's they's coming! We's ready for them." he said.

Wesley's smile faded. Suddenly, despite the sun burning and blistering his skin, he felt ice cold. His friends were coming, he knew that and so did everyone aboard The Tormente. They were going to walk right into a trap. Because of him, because had been stupid enough to get captured. His friends might get hurt, killed even because of him. His fault, his failure. Father had been right...again.

"Let's see how ye're gonna hold up now, pretty boy," the ratty man said, pulling out a cane from behind his back. 

The blows came unexpected. In his stomach, on his back, his legs, his arms. Bruising, tearing, re-opening older wounds. But all Wesley could feel was fear. Fear for his friends, ice cold in his stomach.

And for the first time since he'd been forcefully brought on-board The Tormente...Wesley screamed.


	9. Chapter 9

_Big thanks to Annalise and Eloise for beta reading this monster. Without them this fic would be a whole lot different and not of the  
good kind. ((Hugsss)))_

**Spoilers:** AtS S1 to 4, BtvS S3 and S5/6 I guess. At the beginning S4 of AtS and S7 of BtvS, Joss and I go our separate ways again.

**Disclaimer:** The boys and girls are not mine, I'm just playing with them.

****

The Outcasts

Two small boats made their way over to The Tormente as quietly as they could. One contained the Hulk, Faith and Spike; in the other one were Willow, Jack and Gordo. The Cynosure itself was manoeuvring slowly and quietly toward The Tormente.

The plan was simple. Sneak aboard the ship, rescue Wesley and sneak away again. But the broadswords and axes they were all carrying betrayed the fact that they were expecting trouble. Deep down, Willow knew that both Spike and Faith hoped for trouble. And if she was honest, so did she, she felt the need to do some serious damage to someone on-board that ship.

Without making too much noise, the experienced sailors moved their little boats along side The Tormente. Grappling hooks were slung over the railing and they climbed aboard, Gordo staying behind to keep an eye on the boats.

"Where do we look first?" Faith whispered.

But she needn't have asked, Jack slowly raised his hand and pointed toward the mast of the main sail.

That was when they saw the bruised and battered body, arms tied above the head, hanging from a pole. Blood oozing from several wounds, blisters covering over half the body. Wesley.

"Oh god," Willow sobbed, her hand flying to her mouth in shock.

Spike's grip on his sword tightened so much his knuckles turned white. 

"Is he...?" Faith began, taking a hesitant step toward Wesley's body. 

"He's still alive," Spike nodded, quickly moving over to Wesley. Looking over the wounded body he couldn't even begin to count the many cuts, bruises, burns and what ever was underneath. The old Spike was no stranger to torture, but the new Spike felt nauseated by the sight alone. It might have had something to do with the person it had happened to.

"Hurry, untie him," Faith hissed. She was trembling and almost couldn't look at Wesley. God it was terrible, so much blood, was this how Wes had looked like after she was done with him so long ago? She couldn't remember, wouldn't remember.

"Hold on to him," Spike said. He waited till Faith and Willow both held Wesley under his arms and then cut the ropes that bound the wrists. Carefully he moved the arms lower, knowing full well that it would hurt like hell. The man's muscles had been in this upward position god only knew how long.

The pain in his arms woke Wesley. Groggily he looked up, and saw Willow and Faith peering down at him worriedly. They were here, they had come to get him. He felt a jolt of relief and joy go through him. Swallowing, or rather trying to swallow, he opened his bruised mouth. "You came," he croaked, then hissed as Spike fully lowered his arms. "You need to get the hell out of here," he managed to mutter desperately.

Puzzled the other three looked at him. Of all the possible greetings Wesley could have given them, this wasn't one they had anticipated, nor expected. 

"We are, but not without you," Spike said, slowly lowering the wounded man to the ground. Wesley's legs were obviously giving out on him. The vampire could feel the other man trembling, whether from pain or from trying to keep himself under control he didn't know.

"You...don't understand," Wesley tried again. His entire body hurt even more now than when he had been hanging from that pole. He had to blink several times to clear his eyes from the tears that had formed there. "It's...a trap."

They froze and looked up, to see they were surrounded by the crew of The Tormente. The filthy men were armed to the teeth and grinning down at them.

"We meet again," The Captain said, giving Spike a nasty smirk. He brought up his sword and caressed it with his hand. "You lot are so easy."

Spike narrowed his eyes and looked at Faith. Behind her he saw both Jack and the Hulk ready for action. And so was he, more then ready, especially after he'd seen what they had done to Wesley. "Ready to kick some pirate ass?" he asked Faith.

Faith grinned back at him, holding on tight to her axe. "More then ready," she said grimly, her hand brushing over Wesley's arm. "Left or right?"

"I'll go left," Spike said, giving Bully a murderous look. "Protect Wes," he ordered Willow. Then he jumped up, knocked down two men and immediately went for The Captain. The sounds of their swords clashing together signaled the beginning of the battle.

Faith jumped to the right, hefting her axe and slashing at anything or anyone that got in her way. From the corner of her eye she noticed that both Jack and Hulk had also jumped into the fray and were fighting off several crew-members of The Tormente.

Willow moved behind Wesley and grabbed him under the arms, trying to move him out of the way as carefully as she could. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she babbled when she heard the man bite back a cry of pain. But she kept moving until they reached the railing and were relatively safe.

Trying to say something, Wesley cleared his throat, only to start violently coughing. Willow grabbed the flask of water she had tied around her waist. Carefully she lifted the flask up to his lips. "Slowly," she said, softly brushing the hair on his forehead. 

Gratefully Wesley slowly swallowed a few sips of water, cooling down his painful throat. Then he watched wearily as his friends fought off the crew of The Tormente. "All my fault," he groaned, "I'm so sorry, you shouldn't have come."

Willow blinked down at him puzzled and then frowned angrily. "Wesley Wyndam-Pryce!" she scolded, waving a finger at his face. Which was quite an achievement in the position they were in. "Not everything is your fault alright! What did you think? We were just going to leave you here and forget about you? I don't think so! Stop blaming yourself this instant, it's not your fault!"

Wesley grimaced at her, "but..."

"No!" Willow insisted, stabbing a finger at him, "get over it, it's not your fault. Jeeze, are you always this difficult?" she said, trying to clean away some blood with a piece of cloth she had ripped from her vest.

Wesley tried to say some more but was interrupted by a shout from Faith.

"We're not having any effect!" She shouted frustrated, "It's like there's a force field around those assholes!" She was kicking left and right, but it indeed looked as if there was a barrier protecting the crew.

"The mage," Wesley whispered, trying to grab Willow's tunic to get her attention. The muscles in his hands still weren't working, but he managed to bring up his hand.

Willow gently caught the hand and leaned forward. "What is it?" she asked.

"The mage," Wesley whispered again. He moved his head a tiny bit to glance at the black robbed figure hiding behind some barrels. "He's...protecting them."

Willow followed the Watcher's gaze and saw the man hiding behind the barrels. He was chanting in some obscure language, but Willow recognized the energy of a powerful protection spell. "I can counteract the spell," she said looking down at Wesley. "But...but I've already used so much energy, if I do this, I won't have any left for...for healing," she told him.

She was close to tears. What was she suppose to do? It was obvious Wesley was desperately in need of healing, but her friends were starting tire and were loosing the battle.

"Take him out," Wesley told her.

"But what about you?" Willow asked, tears flowing down her face now.

Wesley gave her a ghost of a smile. "I'll be fine; it'll just take me a bit longer to heal."

"Master of the understatement," the Witch muttered, looking over the bruised and battered body of her friend. "Are you sure?" she sniffed.

"What other choice do we have? Do it," Wesley said firmly.

Nodding briskly, Willow closed her eyes. Concentrating on the protection spell she could feel around her, she called upon the energy she needed. Opening her eyes she looked directly toward the Mage. The man had noticed her now too and was blinking his completely white eyes at her. He opened his mouth to say something, cast a spell perhaps, but he never got that far. Willow pushed the counter energy with all her might in the direction of the Mage and with an enormous red flash, the man disappeared into thin air.

Taking a shaky breath Willow looked down at Wesley again. "Well done," he said, giving her a painful smile. He gasped when a stab of pain went through his body. When the blackness came this time, he fought against it. Wanting to see how his friends were holding up, wanting to make sure they were going to be alright. He lost the battle.

Holding on to an unconscious Wesley tighter, Willow looked up to see how the other battle was fairing.

Faith, with the help of Jack and Hulk had no problem taking out the crew, now that the protective barrier had vanished. They hauled them overboard, tossing them into the sea one by one. Gordo, tired of waiting in the tiny boats, had come aboard as well and was gleefully helping out. Until the only one left was Captain Bully.

He and Spike were still circling each other. "Now it's a fair fight," Spike growled, "nothing to protect you."

Captain Bully shrugged. "I don't need protection, I can take you any day," he scoffed.

Spike brought up his sword and narrowed his eyes at the man. His mind was a turmoil of fury, all he could see was Wesley hanging bleeding from that pole. And here was the man who was responsible for that. He would make that bastard pay.

In one move Spike jumped forward, slashing his sword against the Captain's arm, managing to cut deep. The man gasped and quickly sidestepped the next blow. Bringing up his own sword, the Captain moved to strike down Spike, but the vampire was faster and had his sword up to block the man's attack.

In one swift move, Spike kicked the man in the stomach and watched as his adversary fell backward. He grabbed onto the man's sword, yanking it out of the his hand. Then he leapt on top of Captain Bully and placed the tip of his sword against the man's throat.

"You hurt my friend," Spike growled into the man's face. "I should kill you for that." Spike pushed the point of his sword deeper, breaking the skin, a small droplet of blood trickling down.

"Spike, don't," Faith's voice interrupted. "If you do that, you're no better then him."

Spike glared down at Captain Bully for a long moment, and then removed the sword. "You're not worth the effort," he spat. He nodded at Jack and Gordo who took hold of The Captain on either side, ready to remove the man.

"I know that was hard," Faith said, giving the vampire an encouraging smile. "But you did the right thing."

"I know," Spike said, letting out a shaky breath. "Let's take care of Wes," he nodded, turning around, with Faith on his heels.

A sudden shriek made them stop. They turned around just in time to see Captain Bully snatch away Gordo's dagger. He jumped away from his captors and held the dagger to his heart. "Glory in death!" he yelled and stabbed himself in the heart. To Faith and Spike's amazement, he exploded in a cloud of dust.

"I so didn't see that coming," Faith said, blinking down at the pile of dust.

"Bloody drama queen," Spike muttered. "Saved us the work though."

They looked down at the pile of dust for a few moments and then turned around to join Willow and Wesley. The Watcher had regained consciousness and was looking at his friends with pride in his eyes.

Spike knelt down next to the man and carefully brushed his hand over the battered face. "Hey," he smiled at him. Bending down, he placed a soft kiss on the bruised mouth.

"Hey yourself," Wesley said softly, giving him a weak smile.

Spike kept smiling back, putting one arm under Wesley's legs, the other around his shoulders and gently lifted him up. He looked over to where The Cynosure was now drifting along side the other ship. "Let's get you home."

Wesley's smile grew bigger as he looked at each of his friends. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the feeling of Spike's arms around him. Holding him, supporting him, keeping him safe. 

"I am home," he whispered.

~*~*~*~

Captain Traxda had paled and cursed out loud when he'd seen Wesley. He'd ordered them down to see the doctor and Miranda, not that he needed to, but just because he didn't know what else to say.

"What is that god-awful stench?" Traxda asked when he came aboard The Tormente. There was still the matter of what to do with the remaining crew. Though there were little left after that battle.

"Dunno," Gordo shrugged. "Hulk went down to take a look." He'd only just said the words, when the man in question stumbled back on deck again, looking even greener then his original coloring.

Without a word Hulk raced toward the railing and lost the contents of his stomach to the sea below. Both Jack and Gordo looked at each other worriedly. Hulk was one of the most stoic, tough men they had ever met, what he had seen down below must have been extremely horrible to have shaken him up this much. They weren't sure they wanted to know what he had found below, if it could rattle him this much.

When the green man was done, he staggered over to a puzzled looking Traxda. "Slaves," the huge man told his Captain. "All of them dead, some for quite a long time."

Captain Traxda took a shaking breath. Then he glanced back at the remaining crew of The Tormente. His eyes narrowed as he glared at each of them. "Put them in the life boat with some fresh water and food and get them out of my sight," he said roughly. 

Gordo and Jack immediately went into action. And if they were a bit rougher then they needed to be, who could really blame them.

"What about...?" Hulk asked, gesturing with his hand below deck.

"We'll have to burn the ship," Traxda answered. He took another deep breath, grimacing as the stench assaulted his nostrils and then turned around to go back to The Cynosure. The sooner they were going to be on their way again, the better. The sooner they were going to arrive in Maxion, the sooner he could get the Sea Council together and talk about the 'code of the sea' and the changes they were going to have to make to those. Because if he had learned one thing from this entire ordeal, it was that the 'code of the sea' was utter shit and needed some major changes.

~*~*~*~

Wesley was lying in a bed in the makeshift infirmary. Usually patients on board were treated in their own bunks. But they needed more room to move now, since none his friends would leave him.

The doctor had thoroughly examined Wesley, concluding that there were no life-threatening injuries, but it would take some time to heal properly. There were broken bones, bruises, blisters, cuts that needed stitching, burn wounds and dehydration.

Leaving Wesley's friends to start cleaning away the blood and dirt, the doctor and his wife had gone to their cabin to collect several medical supplies they were going to need.

Spike was massaging Wesley's swollen hand's in an attempt to get the blood flow going again. He was alternating between rubbing the hands and kissing them. Sitting next to Wesley his hands never left the other man's body. Feeling the need for touch, the need for reassurance that Wesley really was alive. 

Faith and Willow both were carefully cleaning away the blood and dirt. The cook had brought over several buckets of fresh boiled water, but they were going to need more, so much more. They were currently using their third or maybe fourth cloth. Wincing whenever Wesley was unable to hold in a cry of pain.

After gently moving Wesley to his side, Faith was cleaning his back. Staring down at the numerous slashes criss crossing over the bruised flesh. Faith was getting dizzy. So much blood, so many cuts; it was too much, and suddenly she couldn't see Wesley anymore, just a mass of blood, cuts, bruises.

_I think I want to hear you scream_.

Looking down she suddenly saw a piece of glass in her hand, instead of the cloth, blood dripping from it. She could smell burning flesh. Chocking back a sob she dropped the cloth and backed away from Wesley. "Oh god," she gasped. "What have I done, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she sobbed softly, pressing a shaking hand to her mouth.

She wrapped her arms around herself and kept backing away, toward the door, ready to flee outside. 

"Faith."

It was the sound of his voice that stopped her. Slowly she lifted her head to look at him. Wesley had turned around and was looking at her with pain-filled eyes, understanding written all over his face. "I'm so sorry," she whispered.

"Faith, come here," Wesley said, holding out a trembling hand. "I haven't the strength to stand up to get you, please Faith."

Hesitantly Faith took a step toward Wesley. All she could see was Wesley, and blood, and cuts, and bruises. When she reached him, she sank to her knees. One finger reaching out to trace a scar on his collar bone, one she had given him. "I'm so sorry," she said again.

"I know you are," Wesley said softly. With Spike's help he sat up a little straighter. He put a finger under Faith's chin and pushed it up to look into her eyes. "I forgive you Faith, I did so a long time ago," he told her.

"How? How could you possibly forgive me?" Faith wanted to know, looking into those impossibly blue eyes.

"Because I know you now," Wesley simply said. He painfully moved one arm around her and pulled her closer. "I know you and I forgive you," he whispered. "Let it go."

And for the first time since that fateful night in the rain, so long ago, Faith cried. 

She buried her head against Wesley's shoulder and cried. Finally letting go of what she had been keeping inside for so long. Guilt, sorrow, regret. She cried even harder when she felt one small hand rubbing over her back and a larger hand gripping her shoulder comfortably. 

And slowly her tears became tears of joy. Because for the first time in her life, she felt like she belonged. Here were three people who knew everything she had done in the past, every unspeakable crime she had committed. Yet they still chose to be her friend, they still chose to forgive her and they chose to be her family.

~*~*~*~

The sounds of desperate mutterings woke Spike. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes he looked over at Wesley's bunk. Worriedly he watched as the Watcher tossed and turned, tangling himself in the thin, cotton sheets.

"No, please don't," Wesley pleaded in his sleep.

It wasn't the first time since the torture that Wesley had a nightmare, and it probably wouldn't be the last. Spike frowned and got out of his bunk when the pleas were getting more desperate.

Untangling the sweating man from the blankets, Spike climbed into the bunk, sitting behind Wesley and wrapping his arms around him, whispering comforting words. Trying to comfort Wes when he was having nightmares always made the vampire feel powerless. He couldn't very well go into Wes' dreams and hit this Captain Bully again. 

"No, father, that's not true," Wesley whispered desperately.

Spike froze, this was new. Wesley was dreaming about his Dad? The vampire didn't know what to do, so he did the only thing he could think of. Hold onto Wesley and keep whispering meaningless words, until the man would relax again and rest in a dreamless sleep.

~*~*~*~

Sitting on the deck, Wesley closed his eyes and snuggled against Spike's chest, enjoying the fresh air. After a short argument with the vampire, which Wesley had won, Spike had helped him up to the deck. Though not without comments about stubborn watchers who were doing things too fast and too soon.

Spike was sitting behind Wesley, arms loosely around the watchers waist. Ever since they had rescued Wesley from The Tormente, Wesley had very little problems with open displays of affection, to a certain degree. Looking down at the watcher in his arms, Spike smiled at the look of utter contentment on the other man's face.

It had been two weeks since the torture and this was the first time the others had allowed their friend to go up on the deck. The bruises were starting to fade, bones were beginning to mend, and the pain was getting less.

Spike, Faith and Willow all kept their eagle eyes on the watcher. Learning early on that Wesley tended to shrug off injuries and go back to work far too quickly, even thought it was obvious to anyone with eyes that he couldn't. 

Spike had leaned toward berating him with words and physically holding him down, not that took much work, or locking the door to the cabin.

Faith had taken on her old routine of mocking him, but the worry underneath her words was clear. And if all else failed, she too would lock him in his cabin.

Willow had just looked at him with a face that spoke volumes and then took away his books or even his glasses if she thought he was studying too hard. After which she gave him a lecture about stubborn men who thought they were super-humans.

Wesley had taken it all in his stride and with some amusement. Knowing full well that they were right, he just couldn't help himself. It was like second nature to him to shrug off what happened to him. 

"Happy?" Spike asked, leaning in to plant a kiss on the other man's temple. 

"Hmhm," Wesley murmured, moving the tips of his fingers over Spike's arms. His hands were still stiff and he had some trouble getting the muscles there to work. But the doctor had assured him that it would all would be well, in due course.

"You had a nightmare last night," Spike said, remembering how Wesley had woken up trembling and gasping for air, looking around the cabin in fear. How he had crawled into the watcher's bed, held him and muttered reassuring words.

Sighing Wesley opened his eyes and looked up at Spike. "I know," he said. "But it's only to be expected. And they are getting less frequent."

"Don't mean I have to like it," Spike huffed, rubbing a hand up and down Wesley's arm. He moved down the arm and took hold of Wesley's hand, rubbing and massaging it. It had become a habit for him to do this. Wesley had assured him that it felt good and relaxed the muscles.

"This one was different, though, wasn't it?" Spike coaxed him gently. "It wasn't just Bully this time."

Wesley laced his fingers with Spike's, though it took some effort, and brought them up to his lips. He kissed each finger slowly and then rested their entwined hands on his chest. "Did I ever tell you I had a very strange hallucination on board that ship?"

"No," Spike said, trying to keep his voice calm, though his grip on Wesley tightened a bit. He was glad Wesley talked about his ordeal to him, but sometimes it was a little too much to deal with. Since the one who was responsible was already dead and, though that fact was still mystery, dust.

"My father came to visit me," Wesley nodded, "to make sure to point out how I had messed this chance up. Berated me for being with you."

"That wasn't real, pet," Spike said with some anger in his voice. Wesley had told him very little about his father, but what he had said, together with what Spike had learned from the man's nightmares, made the vampire wish to be soulless for an hour if he ever met that bastard Roger Wyndam-Pryce.

"Yes," Wesley agreed, rubbing his thumb over Spikes hand. "Pity though," he smiled.

Puzzled Spike leaned forward to look into Wesley's eyes. "Why's that?" he asked utterly bewildered.

Smile growing bigger, Wesley moved up a bit and captured Spike's lips for a soft kiss. He sucked the vampire's bottom lip into his mouth and ran his tongue over it. "Because," he said as he pulled away a bit, "I told him that I loved you and didn't give a rats arse what he thought about that."

The joy and excitement Spike felt welling up inside him with that statement was unlike anything he had ever felt before. He gave the watcher a goofy grin, that completely damaged his reputation of big, bad vampire. "Really?"

Wesley gave him a shy smile. "Really," he whispered. He moved his other hand up to rest on the nape of Spike's neck. Fingers tangling in the short hair, pulling him down for another kiss, ignoring his protesting ribs for a moment as he lost himself in the kiss. 

Only happy to oblige, Spike leaned in closer, mindful of the man's still healing injuries. He pushed his tongue into the open mouth, gently nipping the bottom lip, his hand slowly sliding through the other man's hair. When Wesley moaned into his mouth he pulled back, unsure if it had been a moan of pleasure or from suppressed pain. "I think I love you too," he whispered putting his forehead against Wesley's.

They both bit down on a chuckle when close by they could hear someone mock gagging, followed by a playful slap from someone else. 

"I think it's cute," Willow's voice said, as she glared at the Slayer who was making the gagging sounds. 

"Yeah well," Faith said as both girls sat down next to them, "I think we should just keep that between the four of us. Or their reputation as badass boys will be totally shot."

"Are you alright?" Willow asked looking intently at Wesley. She gently brushed her fingers over a fading bruise on the side of Wesley's face. "You're not overdoing anything are you?"

Making a small frustrated sound in the back of his throat, Wesley closed his eyes for a moment. "I'm *fine*" he said.

"Yeah right," Faith snorted. "You remind me of that black knight from that Monty Phyton movie. Bleeding to death but insisting it's only a flesh wound."

Wesley opened his eyes and stared at her for a moment before bursting out laughing. 

The other three looked at him surprised, smiling automatically along with him. It wasn't often that Wesley laughed, but when he did it was a moment to cherish. They all thought the man should laugh more often, and vowed to make sure he was going to do so.

Holding onto his side, Wesley took some effort to calm down. "Ow," he winced and glared at the others when they leaned forward worriedly. "I don't know what's more amusing," he said, catching his breath. "You knowing Monty Python, or you knowing how to make an analogy."

"Hey!" Faith mock scowled, "I can do..."

They looked up startled as suddenly the ship started to shake, a rush of water could be heard and a large shadow fell over The Cynosure. Struggling to get up they looked around bewildered. Spike helped Wesley up, protectively keeping an arm around him. 

Then they saw it.

On the right side of the ship, a huge, scaly sea creature appeared. Its head was about the same size as The Cynosure alone. Small blueish green wings spread out above its back, sea water sparkled on its green and blue iridescent scales, glowing red eyes looking down at them. It opened its mouth wide, showing off an impressive set of sharp teeth.

"Holy shit!" Faith shouted, taking on a fighting stance. "It's a sea serpent whatever!"

The sea creature threw itself up at its full hight as much as possible and glowered down at them. Folding, or more trying to fold, its short little stumps of arms across its massive chest. "Sea _Dragon!_ " It said indignantly in an oddly high pitched voice. It rolled its glowing red eyes to the sky and raised its short arms toward it. " _Why_ is it so hard for you humanoids to grasp that concept? Sea _Dragon!_ " it huffed rather insulted.


	10. Chapter 10

_Big thanks to Annalise and Eloise for beta reading this monster. Without them this fic would be a whole lot different and not of the  
good kind. ((Hugsss)))_

**Spoilers:** AtS S1 to 4, BtvS S3 and S5/6 I guess. At the beginning S4 of AtS and S7 of BtvS, Joss and I go our separate ways again.

**Disclaimer:** The boys and girls are not mine, I'm just playing with them.

****

The Outcasts

Wondering why no one else aboard The Cynosure was doing anything, Faith protectively stood in front of Willow, while Spike did his best to keep Wesley behind his back. Wesley, however was having none of it. Holding on to Spike's shoulder for support he limped around the vampire and blinked up at the dragon.

"Extraordinary," Wesley whispered.

The Dragon suddenly blinked confusedly while peering down at the group. It lowered its huge head until it was only mere inches away from them. It glanced at each of then and stopped when its eyes rested on Wesley. 

"Holy Mackerel!" It sniffed, warm steam escaping from its nose. "Dude! What happened to _you?_ " It questioned, pointing a claw at Wesley.

Suddenly feeling very exposed, Wesley took a step back into the safety of Spike's arms. 

"We ran into some trouble with another ship," Willow timidly explained from behind Faith. "We...uh...took care of it though."

"Hmm," the Dragon hummed thoughtfully. "That wouldn't be that ship that was on fire a week or so ago wouldn't it? That stupid pirate ship?"

"Yes it would," Faith said, glaring at the Dragon, daring it to disapprove.

The Dragon suddenly grinned, showing of its sharp teeth again. "Good for you dudes! I've always hated those stinking jellyfish and their ways." It tapped one finger against the side of its huge snout. "Hey!" It said as if thinking of something suddenly. "Now I don't feel so guilty for pushing those creepy crabholes to that deserted island," it said grinning even wider.

A door crashing open suddenly caught everyone's attention. Captain Traxda strode onto the deck, looking less than pleased.

"What the devil is going..." he started to bellow before he noticed the huge Dragon on the side of the ship. "Oh, it's you."

"Captain Traxda!" The Dragon actually squealed. "It's so _great_ to see you again!" It said, clapping its hands in obvious delight. 

"Yes, yes," the Captain grumbled, taking some effort to plaster a polite smile on his face. "It is nice to see you as well, Nestor."

"Like I was just telling these dudes here, good job with The Tormente!" Nestor said, still clapping his hands.

"Yes, thank you," Captain Traxda said. "In fact, it *is* good to see you. I'm on my way to Maxion and meet with the high sea council about the new codes of the sea," he said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully while looking at Nestor. "I could use some back-up."

"Excellen _te_!" Nestor said while flapping his arms. "I've always said. Dudes! I've said, Dudes! These codes stink to heaven high like rotting fish! Haven't I always said so?" He asked giving Traxda a pleading look. 

"Yes, you have," Traxda agreed reluctantly. Obviously Nestor had said it more then once. 

"So," Nestor said, folding his shorts arms in front of his massive chest again. 'What's with the sudden change of heart?"

Traxda glanced at the four friends and then back at Nestor. "Let's just say, I had my eyes opened rather brutally."

Nestor glanced at the four, or more specifically at Wesley. He huffed, obviously swallowing a few choice words. "Dude, I'm just glad that we finally see eye to eye. Now the rest will be easy peasy," Nestor nodded, causing the sea around him to ripple and slosh against the ship. "Uh..." he said looking down. "I keep forgetting how tiny you all are," he muttered.

"Yes, well," Traxda said looking rather humiliated. "You'll be traveling with us then?"

"Sure dude!" Nestor said. His beaming grin however was lost on Traxda's retreating back. 

"You're an actual Sea Dragon?" Wesley asked, limping toward the beast again. Now that it was obviously not a bloodthirsty creature out to eat them, but a friend, he felt more confident approaching it.

"Yup," Nestor nodded carefully, looking rather smug. 

"Are there a lot of your..." Wesley said, looking for the right word, "...species?"

"Oh sure!" Nestor said with childlike eager. "A whole sea full!" He slammed his hands in front of his snout suppressing a giggle.

Willow, Faith and Spike, who had come closer as well had to laugh at the Dragon's behavior. He really wasn't acting like Dragons were supposed to. Not that they had ever met a Dragon, they only knew them from storybooks. But Nestor was nothing like those.

"Now," Nestor said thoughtfully, "Let's talk about you people for a moment." He folded his small arms again and leaned on the railing. The ship lurched dangerously to the right. Willow quickly grabbed hold of the nearby mast, while Spike and Faith grabbed hold of a dangerously swaying Wesley.

Nestor quickly removed his arms from the railing, causing the ship to lurch dangerously to the left again. "Oops!" He said in his high-pitched voice. He reached out with his huge claws and steadied the ship. "Sorry," he muttered, making an apologetic face, which was rather disturbing.

"I don't feel so good," Wesley murmured, leaning heavily on both Faith and Spike. Both heads swiveled around to glare at the Dragon.

"Hey! I said I was sorry! Jeeze, tone down on the death glare!" Nestor grumbled holding up his claws in defeat.

Faith and Spike, carefully lowered their friend and propped him up against the mast. Willow quickly sat down next to him and rubbed his arm in a soothing gesture.

"I'll be alright," Wesley said, giving his friends a weak smile. He took a deep breath, "It was just the sudden movement."

This time three heads turned to glare at the Dragon. 

"Stinking Starfish!" Nestor exclaimed, "over protective much?" He said glaring back. Suddenly he looked at them seriously. "Which is of the good," he nodded, "You'll need to protect each other."

"You know about us," Wesley observed. "How?" He wanted to know.

"Oh Dude!" Nestor flapped his short arms. "The mystic drums are beating loudly about you lot in the mystical under world...err...above world...err...whatever." He peered down at them again. "None of you is from this dimension."

Spike and Faith sat down next to the other two, looking confused. "There goes our big secret," Spike grumbled.

"Naw, don't worry. It's just the Higher Beings and us mystical creatures that know about you dudes," Nestor assured them.

"You wouldn't happen to know why we are here?" Willow asked hopefully.

"Nope, sorry kid, you'll have to ask The Visionaries about that," Nestor shrugged.

Figures, Wesley thought, that would have been too easy. "So," he said, waving toward Nestor, "Dragons?"

"Oooh right!" Nestor said delighted again. "There's a lot of us," he said. He held up his claw and began ticking off species. "There's Sea Dragons, Land Dragons, Air Dragons, Mini Dragons," he looked up. "And there are some Fire Dragons left, though not many," he ended sadly. "They were the mightiest among us."

"Are they all as...friendly as you are?" Willow wanted to know.

"Well, friendly, friendly," Nestor said, looking doubtfully. "Some are, some aren't. They won't attack anyone without provocation though. The Mini ones are mischievous. And some are rather grumpy, especially the old ones. Thousands of years of routine and all the crap."

"How old are you?" Faith asked bluntly, not noticing how the others winced at her tactlessness.

"Oh, I'm only nine hundred and eight," Nestor said, waving his hand dismissively.

"Damn! You're old!" Faith said in awe.

Nestor put his short paws in his side and looked at her insulted. "I am *not* old!"

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Faith grinned at him.

"I'm *not* old!" Nestor tried again looking at the other three with what passed for a puppy dog look.

"No, no, of course not," Wesley said, poking his elbow in Faith's side, hoping she'd get the hint. 

She did, though couldn't seem to stop giggling. Willow quickly looked the other way, obviously trying to hide a grin as well.

"How rude!" Nestor squeeked in his high pitched-voice. 

"Eh, don't mind them. They're girls," Spike explained in a conspiratorial tone. He shared a grin with Nestor.

The vampire frowned when he heard Wesley sigh again and noticed how the other man was rubbing his temples. "I think you've been up long enough, Pet, time to call it a day," he told the Watcher sternly, getting ready for another argument.

The fact that Wesley didn't argue but glanced at him rather defeated, told Spike exactly how tired he really was. He also noticed Wesley was looking rather pale again and was trembling slightly.

Nestor pursed his lips and looked at Wesley thoughtfully. "You know what you need Dude?" he asked. "Dragon blood ointment," he nodded.

Wesley blinked at him confused. "What?"

The Dragon let out a frustrated noise. "Dragon Blood," he said again. He slammed his fists against his chest for emphasis, "Me Dragon," he said. "I can give some of my blood to the doctor, he knows how to make it," he shrugged.

"Is this usual medication?" Willow wanted to know.

"Oh no," Nestor said, waving his claw. "But I like you guys, so I'm going to make an exception here. He looks like he needs it too," he said, pointing at Wesley.

"That he does," Faith said getting up. "And right now he needs rest." Together with Spike she helped Wesley up, holding him steadily as he swayed on his feet.

Spike slung one arm carefully over his shoulder. "Come on love, let's get you to bed."

Wesley nodded tiredly and turned his head toward Nestor. "It's been nice meeting you...err...Sir. And thank you for your help."

"My pleasure dude!" Nestor smiled. "Go rest, I'll have the doctor make you some of that stuff. He can teach your Witch how to make it, so you have some reserve." He nodded. "Something tells me this little group will need it."

Wesley nodded again, giving the Dragon a weak smile. Then he let Spike help him downstairs. 

"That dude always so polite?" Nestor asked Faith and Willow, who were watching the retreating backs of the men with some worry. 

"Yes, he is," Willow said softly.

"Hey don't worry," Nestor spoke, "he'll be fine, especially with the Dragons Blood," he nodded, looking pleased with himself.

"What I'd like to know is why you're talking like some Californian beach bum," Faith wanted to know.

"Eh," Nestor said, "I've been around. Though we can't get to your world anymore. Pity though, I liked it there. Especially when you humanoids still believed in us," he said sadly.

"Nestor! Pestor! Poop!" Jeremiah suddenly shouted, flying around the huge dragon"s head.

Nestor planted his small arms in his side, or where his side was approximately and glared at the bird. "Bashing Barnacles! _You_!" he snarled, "I see you're still alive," he said with a disappointed voice.

~*~*~*~

Spike carefully lowered Wesley onto his bunk, helping him to lie down. "You okay?" he asked as he noticed the other man wincing lightly.

"I'm fine," Wesley automatically replied, laying down, closing his eyes. He opened them when he heard Spike snort loudly. "I'm *fine*," he tried again, "just a little tired."

Spike only raised an eyebrow at him and pursed his lips. He frowned as he saw Wesley toss and turn, trying to find a comfortable position. "Your back still giving you trouble?"

Defeated Wesley looked up at him. Damn, that vampire was far too observant. Wesley thought he'd been hiding it pretty well. "Yes, a bit" he admitted softly.

Turning around, Spike started to rummage in the small cabinet, and turned around triumphantly, holding up a small vial of oil. It was the same oil Wesley had used to sooth Spike's sunburned skin. "Let's see what we can do about that."

Giving the vampire a little smile, Wesley pushed himself up to remove his tunic. Then he turned around and laid back down on his stomach.

Spike climbed into the bunk and straddled Wesley' back for better access. Pouring some oil on the back, he gently started to massage it into the bruised skin. Making sure to be gentle with the still healing cuts criss crossing over the other man's back.

Wesley groaned and sank into the mattress, as cool hands slid over his abused skin. He concentrated on the feeling of those hands, relaxing his muscles more and more.

"You like that, hm?" Spike whispered in his ear, nibbling the earlobe a little. 

"Hmmm," Wesley sighed happily, closing his eyes. He could feel himself already starting to drift off to sleep.

Smiling, Spike continued his ministrations. A sudden tap on the little round window made him look up. "Bloody hell!" Startled he jerked back as he noticed a huge eye taking up the whole window.

Confused by Spike's reaction, Wesley looked up. He blinked at the window and let out a small chuckle. "There be dragons," he said, looking over his shoulder at Spike.

"Daft creature," Spike muttered darkly. He moved toward the small window and opened it.

"Hi!" Nestor said cheery. "I just wanted to tell you that your little redhead made the medicine stuffy thingy. I gave her enough of my precious blood to make plenty! It's really easy to make with the right ingredient, which can be found everywhere." The Dragon babbled.

Spike just glared at the mighty sea creature. 

"Uhm..." Nestor said, suddenly looking uncomfortable. "Am I interrupting something?"

"No, no, not at all," Wesley quickly reassured the Dragon. "Thank you very much for your help," he smiled.

"Ooh!" Nestor shrieked, causing both Spike and Wesley to take a step back. The steam coming from the Dragons nostrils was rather hot, not to mention wet. "I've interrupted humanoid intimacy time! I keep forgetting that you odd people need those kinds of things," he said, actually blushing. "I'm _so_ sorry!" he exclaimed, waving his claws.

"That's quite alright..." Wesley started.

"Bloody right you did," Spike interrupted, pointing at the Dragons huge eye. 

"Jeeze dude! I said I was sorry!" Nestor pouted, folding his arms again.

Wesley sighed and sat back down on his bunk as he watched Spike move forward to give the Dragon a piece of his mind. The vampire, however, was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Saved by the...err...knock," Wesley muttered and painfully started to rise to open the door. He froze and meekly sat back down on his bunk again when he received a glare from both Spike and Nestor. 

"Stubborn one, isn't he?" Nestor observed.

"You've no idea," Spike muttered darkly. He opened the door to reveal Willow and waved her in. "What can we do for you?"

"Oh nothing," Willow said. She held out a jar with some pink looking salve in it. "This is that dragons blood stuff," she said, moving over to Wesley. 

Wesley took the jar and sniffed it. "It has no scent," he frowned puzzled.

"I can add some lavender or something if you want?" Willow said, glancing at Nestor.

"D'oh, it's suppose to be scentless," ," Nestor said as if explaining something to a five year old. Which from his point of view he probably was. "If it had a scent you'd attract you know..." he lowered his voice, "the enemy," he whispered dramatically.

Three pairs of eyebrows shot up followed by several 'oh's' and 'aha's'. 

"It also helps against upset stomach, poisoning, stuff like that," Nestor explained. "Just stir a teaspoon of it in some water or whatever. But no milk! It won't work with milk," he shook his head.

Both Willow and Wesley looked at the ointment as if the idea was beyond disgusting, but wisely neither said anything. 

"Yeah, thanks," Spike said rather impatiently. He glanced at Willow and then at Nestor. 

Willow looked at him confused. Then she took in a shirtless Wesley and the oil lying on the small table. "Oooh, Faith is waiting for me. Call us if you need anything!" she babbled and shot out the door.

That left only Nestor. "Gotcha, I can take a hint okay! Humanoid Intimacy time," he nodded thoughtfully. "Never did get that concept," he muttered. "Oh! That reminds me," he continued cheerily. "Would any of you mind if I...sort of ...ate that annoying parrot?"

A stern yes from both Spike and Wesley and several exclamations from above deck made the Dragon slink off. "Jeeze dudes," he muttered, "It's only a stupid, annoying, parrot," he kept complaining.

Spike grabbed a sheet from his bunk and pulled it in front of the little round window. Then he turned around and looked at Wesley. "Now," he smiled, "Where were we?"

Grinning back, Wesley laid back down on his bunk again.

~*~*~*~

Faith and Willow looked back and forth between the two contestants in an fierce argument. Trying not to laugh out loud, since both parties were considered dangerous when angry.

"Look," Nestor said, obviously trying for patience, but failing miserably. "All I'm saying is, it'll take you one or two days to get to Maxion and if I push you a little it'll only be an hour or two. What is your problem?"

Captain Traxda, the other person in the argument, glared at the Dragon. "It isn't proper," he simply said, folding his arms over his chest.

"What's going on?" Spike wanted to know, looking at the girls puzzled.

"Nestor here can get us to Maxion in a few hours, and Traxda wants to do it the old fashioned way," Faith explained quickly. "How's Wes?"

"He's asleep, he should be out for at least an hour or so, was pretty knackered," Spike told them, looking at the argument with interest. "Who's winning?"

"So far it's a tie, neither one is giving in," Faith snorted. "Personally I'm rooting for Nestor. The sooner I can get off this ship the better, I'm getting claustrophobic."

"I'd love to walk on a non moving surface again," Willow agreed. Not that she didn't enjoy the life aboard the ship, but really, enough was enough.

"Let's see if we can speed things up then," Spike nodded. He strode toward the arguing pair and held up his hand. "It seems to me we've already lost time, what with The Tormente and everything. I think it would be good to catch up on that time, no?" he said looking at Captain Traxda.

"Yes, but..." The captain tried.

"And you want to do things differently right?" Spike continued as if he wasn't interrupted, "So I'm thinking, why not start now," he finished looking pointedly at the man. 

Traxda looked at Spike, glanced at an intently looking Faith and Willow and then sighed. "Oh alright then," he muttered stalking off to take the helm.

Nestor let out a whoop of joy and splashed his claws excitedly on the water surface, making the ship bounce up and down dangerously. "Oops!" he said, holding his paws up quickly, looking at them sheepishly. "Sorry," he said giving them a toothy grin. He then made his way behind the ship fast and started to push. "Maxion here we come!"

Spike grinned, ran toward the back of the ship and started to cheer the Dragon on. The only thing missing, Willow thought, were some pompoms.

"What the bloody hell is going on now," a familiar British voice wanted to know. 

Both Faith and Willow quickly made their way over to Wesley, intent on helping him. 

Holding up his hands in defense, Wesley glared from Faith to Willow. "I'm not a sodding invalid," he grumbled. 

Both girls backed off a little bit, looking slightly hurt, but kept hovering near by just in case. 

Staggering toward the railing, Wesley looked at them both. "I'm sorry," he sighed, "but this coddling is getting rather tiresome. And why are we moving so fast?"

"Nestor is pushing us," Faith grinned. "And Spike is cheering him on," she smirked, pointing at where Spike stood.

Looking over to the Vampire, Wesley quirked an eyebrow and shook his head. "How soon will we reach Maxion?"

"Nestor says in about an hour or so," Willow explained. "Otherwise it would have taken us a day or two maybe. So pretty fast."

"I'll say," Wesley said pleased. "The sooner I can walk on steady ground the better."

"Exactly," Faith agreed while Willow nodded her agreement.

Time almost literally flew by and pretty soon the lookout announced that they were approaching the city of Maxion.

Excited, Faith and Willow made their way up to front of the ship and looked in awe as the city of Maxion appeared in front of them. 

"Amazingly beautiful," Wesley said from behind them. Spike walked up to them and snaked an arm around the man's waist, looking on stunned as well.

Maxion was built upon a mountain. The houses were all made of what looked like stone, the roofs were made out of tiles. Unlike Vilnarsy, the colors weren't bright, but more subdued, almost pastel colored. The buildings colors, Traxda explained, had the same meaning as in Vilnarsy. Most houses had entrances made out of pillars. There were small houses, several bigger dwellings and a few huge halls. 

The closer they came the more they could see. The streets, as far as they could see, were paved with huge, white slates. The city itself was huge, by far bigger than Vilnarsy. Several roads led in and out of the city. Unlike Vilnarsy there was no defense fort around the city.

"When in Rome..." Wesley muttered.

"It certainly looks very Roman," Willow agreed.

The four of them watched as they sailed closer to the city, with excitement and trepidation. It was the end of one journey and the beginning of another.

\- TBC


	11. Chapter 11

_Big thanks to Annalise, Eloise and Lilacgirl for beta reading this monster. Without them this fic would be a whole lot different and not of the  
good kind. ((Hugsss)))_

**Spoilers:** AtS S1 to 4, BtvS S3 and S5/6 I guess. At the beginning S4 of AtS and S7 of BtvS, Joss and I go our separate ways again.

**Disclaimer:** The boys and girls are not mine, I'm just playing with them.

****

The Outcasts

Saying goodbye, possibly forever, was always hard.

Captain Traxda had said his goodbyes quickly, paying them for the work they had done on-board The Cynosure and then some. Spike guessed the man felt a little guilty. He could relate to that, but had still protested against the payment along with the others. The agreement had been that they would work for a passage to Maxion. But Traxda would hear none of it and they ended up thanking him and accepting their payment. That, along with Spike and Faith's winnings from the crew of The Tormente, gave them some freedom, or so they hoped.

Miranda had given them copies of some of the maps, telling them they would probably be able to use those. They were maps of the land and the sea. Wesley had no doubt they would need those maps. Since nothing was ever simple, it would probably take some time to get to those damn Visionaries. Her husband, the good doctor, had packed up some medicinal supplies. Giving them a look and telling them that they'd probably put it to good use, he somehow had no doubt about that.

Nestor had said his cheery farewells too. Even though the harbor of Maxion was huge, the dragon was still too big to enter. Their new friend had lamented about being too big, because now he couldn't hug them goodbye. Instead he had given them some tips on how to deal with different kinds of dragons, would they ever meet any on their long journey. Then he had sniffed and cried, giving his new friends a teary goodbye and wishing them a safe journey. He had slouched off, bawling like a baby, clutching the tiny handkerchief Wesley had given him.

Jack, Hulk and Gordo had said their goodbyes as well. They however, had the four friends promise to meet up for a drink sometime during the next week, as The Cynosure would be docked in the harbor. Willow had hugged everyone and cried. Spike and Wesley had said their goodbyes and Faith had even sniffled a little. Though she would deny this and kill anyone who would ever have pointed that out.

"I really hate saying goodbye," Willow sniffled.

Wesley had his arm around her, rubbing up and down her shoulder in a soothing gesture. "I know," he agreed. Something told him that this wasn't going to be the last time they would have to say goodbye to new friends.

Faith and Spike agreed wholeheartedly. They put up a stoic front, since they were tough and warriors didn't cry or sniffle. Which made Wesley sigh and glare at them annoyed. Because, really, who were they trying to fool?

Entering the city however, made them forget about all thoughts of goodbye. It was, if possible, even stranger then Vilnarsy. Though more organized, more, for lack of a better word, civilized. The streets were parted in two, one road for the carriages pulled by the horse-like creatures and one for pedestrians. The houses and shops stood in neat rows. There were some who were cleaning up the streets, though there was little dirt on them to begin with. Probably because of those...cleaners. In fact, the entire town screamed 'clean!'

They discovered that Maxion had the same 'police' as Vilnarsy, easily recognizable due to their uniforms. The police force here however, obviously had better things to do than check out every new stranger that came into town.

"I suggest we find ourselves a hotel or an inn and think about what to do next," Spike said. He was already looking around, but decided they'd better find an inn away from the crowded center of town. Like they had done in Vilnarsy.

"Yeah," Faith agreed. "We need to figure out where to find the brother of that water spirit. Anyone else notice the lack of shrines around here?"

"Well," Willow said thoughtfully, "maybe this cities protector isn't a water element. Uh...if her brother is this city's protector."

"Damn," Wesley cursed. "We should have asked someone on The Cynosure about that." He inwardly scolded himself for his stupidity, he really should have thought about that.

"Hey, don't worry about that," Willow said softly. She patted the arm that was still around her shoulders. "We can always ask them later, though you'll probably have figured it out before that," she grinned up at him, almost laughing at his stunned expression.

"Yeah," Faith said, patting his back absentmindedly, "You'll work it out, brains."

Blinking from one girl to the other, Wesley felt stunned. He glanced over at Spike, who was grinning at him encouragingly, if not a little mischievously. What had he done to earn such trust, Wesley wondered. How could this group have gone from barely or not knowing each other, to such good friends, almost family and lovers, in such a short time? His thoughts were interrupted by Spike's voice. Wesley hadn't even noticed they had reached the less crowded areas of the town.

"How about this one then?" Spike asked. He was pointing at a tall building, standing slightly higher then the other building on the street, thus allowing its occupants to overlook part of the city. 

"Oh! I like it," Willow beamed.

"Wicked cool," Faith agreed.

"Well, let's get some rooms then ladies," Wesley said, holding the doors open for them. 

The lobby of the hotel was massive. A row of pillars lead them to the front desk. Looking between the pillars, they could see several rooms. A dining room, a lounge, a games room and several others whose purpose was yet to be discovered. They also noted the lack of anything resembling a shrine.

Wesley looped a finger around the waistband of Spike's trousers, to prevent him from wandering off into the games room. He smirked at Spike's questioning look. "I think I'm getting to know you pretty well," Wesley grinned, moving toward the front desk.

Faith and Willow looked around in awe. Craning their necks to have a better view of the landscape painting that decorated the ceiling. "Spike, look at this," Willow said softly.

Scowling at Wesley, Spike walked over to the girls and looked up. "Pretty good, I've seen something similar in Italy several times," he said. He started pointing out several details to the girls, until two sets of keys were dangled in their view.

"Quite beautiful," Wesley murmured, looking up at the painted ceiling as well. He handed each of them a key. "We're on the top floor, adjoining rooms," he said. "We can take the...err...lift...err...elevator."

"Elevator?" Faith asked, raising an eyebrow. She looked around for said elevator. 

They glanced into the direction Wesley pointed out and noticed a contraption hidden between two pillars. It was built like a cage with doors. Thick ropes were fastened on top and lead outside. Looking out the small window, they saw one of the horse-like creatures at the end of the rope. 

"Or we can take the stairs," Wesley said, pointing at said stairs. They were hard to miss, massive as they were, a bright red carpet covering them. 

Faith and Spike were already in the elevator, looking back at their two friends expectantly. 

Willow glanced back and forth between the contraption and the stairs. "How many stairs is it?" She asked weakly. 

"We're on the eighth floor," Wesley answered, "So, my guess would be eight? Eight flights of stairs, or a not entirely safe looking lift." He'd rather take the stairs. This lift thing looked even more dangerous then the one they had at the old Hyperion Hotel. He vaguely noticed that he didn't have the urge to wince, nor had that bitter taste in his mouth that had been there for so long, when he thought about his past.

Willow gave him a scrutinizing look. "Will you be alright taking those stairs?" she asked. 

"Yes Mum," Wesley smiled at her, "that dragons' blood ointment works very well."

Willow took in his still bruised appearance and had her own thoughts about that, but she really didn't want to take that dubious elevator. "Alright, we'll take the stairs," she muttered. 

They waved to their more adventurous friends and walked up the stairs. The walk up the stairs was fairly easy, but they both knew that their two other friends would needle them until they would finally go on that wretched thing. 

Arriving on the eighth floor, about fifteen minutes later, they found Faith and Spike already in the luxurious rooms. Of course, after being on-board The Cynosure for more then two months, everything seemed luxurious.

Both rooms were exactly alike; a door between the rooms gave them a private access without having to go out into the hallway. There was a single huge bed, with room enough for six people, a comfortable sitting area and a bathroom with a spacious bath. They also shared a balcony, which is where Faith and were currently relaxing.

Joining their two friends, Willow and Wesley took in the breathtaking view. 

"Amazing innnit?" Spike asked, wrapping his arms around Wesley's waist. 

"Wow," was all Willow was able to murmur. The view was almost identical to what they had seen on board the ship, only now they could make out details. The colorful houses, the huge halls, the people on the streets, the nature and mountains surrounding the city, it was indeed awe-inspiring

"So," Faith started after a while, "What's our next step?"

"Tomorrow we'll go to the main temple and make an appointment to see the City Protector," Wesley said matter of factly.

The other three blinked at him puzzled. What was he talking about? Had the walk on the stairs been too much after all?

"What?" Willow asked finally. "How do you know that?"

"I asked the man at the front desk," Wesley shrugged, but the smug expression on his face spoke volumes. "And right now," he continued turning around to walk back into the room, "I'm thinking about taking a bath, eating something and then going to sleep." He walked into the room laughing inwardly. Sometimes things _were_ simple, and all you had to do was ask.

~*~*~*~

As it turned out, the Protector of the City of Maxion, was a really busy one. Faith and Wesley had gone to the temple to make an appointment, only to find out that there wasn't an opening until the end of next week.

Considering that it was the beginning of this week, that meant they had almost a week and a half to kill. After accepting the neatly scribbled appointment card from the...priests, they made their way to one of the taverns where they would meet up with the others.

"What are we gonna do in the meantime?" Faith asked.

"Look around the city I suppose," Wesley said. "Gordo said something about dancing halls, maybe you can go out. You did say you missed music."

"I somehow doubt they have my kinda music here," Faith grinned, "But I'd like to go out and have some fun. Been ages," she agreed.

"Well, good then," Wesley said, "I'm sure Spike and Willow would love to go with you."

"And what about you?" Faith asked, "You gonna stay in your room and make out with some books?"

Sighing, Wesley looked at her, but the slight smile on his face told her that he wasn't really annoyed. "Maybe," he said, "or maybe I'll study some of the maps, or look around in some of those strange stores."

"Nuh uh," Faith turned around and waved a finger at him. "If we go out and have fun, go dancing and stuff, you come along too."

"You really don't want me to," Wesley sighed, "I can't dance."

"You don't know that," Faith said, "who knows how they dance here. You might be able to. And besides, it's about having fun! If you don't wanna dance, you can always stand around and look handsome."

Wesley blushed, but before he could protest, Faith had already dragged him along. "Come on, book boy. Let's meet up with the others and Jack and Gordo. I'm sure they can point us in the right direction."

~*~*~*~

Jack and Gordo could indeed point them in the right direction. They told them about different halls. Some held formal dancing, where you needed to dress the part, which both Spike and Faith had immediately rejected. There were the more relaxed halls, where one could drink and gamble some, which Willow and Wesley had immediately rejected. In the end they agreed to go to a hall where one could dance, drink, and listen to music without too much formality.

Jack and Gordo bid their final farewells, as The Cynosure was sailing back to Vilnarsy today. After assuring them that they would give their regards to the rest of the crew they took off.

"Alright!' Spike said, clapping his hands together gleefully, "Lets go out and have some fun!"

Faith and Willow eagerly agreed, standing up to join Spike toward the smaller hall Jack and Gordo had pointed out. 

Wesley followed them a little less enthusiastically. "I refuse to dance," he muttered. He wondered briefly if he could excuse himself due to the fact that he was still healing. But he shook his head, that would be unfair and not really true. He kept the excuse in the back of his mind though, just in case.

The small dance hall was cozy. It wasn't overly full, but crowded enough for them to get lost in. They found a table in a secluded corner, which gave them the opportunity to overlook the dance floor, the entrance and the bar. Faith walked over to the bar to order them some drinks.

Dancing in this dimension, seemed to consist of some form of country line dancing or slow dancing. The music was strange, though not annoying. Wesley was dying to go over to the...band? orchestra? And ask them about the instruments they were playing. Something with strings, something that resembled a piano and something that looked like drums. There was someone blowing on a small flute, though the sounds coming from it belied the instrument's size.

"Pet," Spike warned, noticing the gleam in Wesley's eyes. "We're here to have fun, not to study." He looked up gratefully as Faith returned and put four drinks on the table. 

Sitting down they looked at the dancers for a while, trying to figure out how it was done. Wesley didn't even try, since he wasn't going to dance. Instead he amused himself by looking at the orchestra and the people and creatures that inhabited the establishment.

"I think I got it," Faith said after a while. She stood up and tugged on Spike's arm. "Come on Vamp, let's go dancing."

Spike put up a little struggle, as a matter of principle, but after both Wesley and Willow's encouraging words he followed the Slayer onto the dance floor.

They found an area where they wouldn't be noticed too much, and tried out the dance moves. It didn't take either of them very long to get into the swing of things.

"God, I've missed this," Faith smiled, swinging to the upbeat music.

"Yeah, this is fun," Spike agreed. He swung his hips seductively, glancing over at Willow and more specifically Wesley. He wriggled his eyebrows at the Watcher and grinned as the other man blushed and gave him a shy smile.

"You should drag him out on the dance floor," Faith commented, smirking hugely. She waved at Willow and gestured for her to join them.

They watched as Willow smiled brightly and turned at Wesley. There was a small argument, but Willow had her resolve face. Wesley never stood a chance. She pulled up the still protesting Watcher and dragged him onto the dance floor toward Faith and Spike.

"Give it up Wes," Faith smirked as they arrived, "That's her resolve face."

Wesley muttered something under his breath, but moved into Spike's arms as the music slowed down. He gave up his protests and tried to follow Spike's moves uncertainly.

"I'm just doing this for you, you realize," Wesley mumbled.

"Because you love me," Spike smirked.

"Well, there is that," Wesley couldn't help but agree shyly. He moved closer to Spike and let himself get lost in the music and Spike's arms.

"Score for the Witch," Faith laughed, watching the men dance.

"I think Spike being here helped a great deal," Willow admitted. She smiled at them. "Tara and I loved to dance too," she said softly.

She didn't notice Faith flinch, but the sound of strain in the Slayer's voice caught her attention. "You still miss her a lot huh?" Faith asked.

"I suppose I always will miss her," Willow said thoughtfully. "But when I think about her now, it doesn't hurt the way it did. You know? I only have the happy memories now."

"So, if you were to like meet...someone, here..." Faith started but was unable to finish her question, unsure of what she was asking, or how to ask it.

"Oh, I might be interested," Willow nodded, giving Faith a strange look. "If...if it were the...uh...right person," she added quietly.

Looking at the Witch for a moment, Faith bit her lower lip. She tried to figure out her next move. She liked the girl, she really did. But she wasn't sure if Willow was ready for that, or even for her, Faith, specifically. It wasn't as if they had been friends, even though they were now. And the other girl had never given the Slayer any signs and she sure as hell hadn't given Willow any, or at least she didn't think so.

Later, Faith had never been able to tell what had possessed her to do it. But before her brain had managed to catch up with her body, and her heart, she had lunged forward. Wrapping her arms around Willow she gently pressed her lips to the other girl. 

Faith was lost, it was better then she could have ever imagined. Willow tasted like power, yet gentle and shy, sweet. Someone she wanted to protect, even though Faith knew Willow is perfectly able to protect herself. 

Pulling back reluctantly she looked at Willow. Only then did she notice the shocked look on the Witch's face. 

Disgusted with herself, Faith took a step back. Too soon, too fast, she had been too aggressive again. Dammit! "Shit," she whispered. "God, Wills I...I'm so sorry."

She took another step back, muttering excuses, and before anyone could react the Slayer spun around on her heels and fled out onto the street.

\- TBC


	12. Chapter 1

_Big thanks to Annalise, Eloise and Lilacgirl for beta reading this monster. Without them this fic would be a whole lot different and not of the  
good kind. ((Hugsss)))_

**Spoilers:** AtS S1 to 4, BtvS S3 and S5/6 I guess. At the beginning S4 of AtS and S7 of BtvS, Joss and I go our separate ways again.

**Disclaimer:** The boys and girls are not mine, I'm just playing with them.

****

The Outcasts

Willow stared after the running Slayer, the tops of her finger touching her lips slightly. It only took her a few seconds to shake her out of her initial shock. "Faith! Wait!" she shouted and started to run after the other girl.

Out on the street, Willow could just see Faith running toward the end of the long street. She was using her Slayer ability to get away, there was no way Willow would be able to catch up with her. "Wait! Faith!" she tried again. "Faith wait," she whispered rather desperately, watching Faith disappear around the corner.

"Want me to get her for you?" Spike's voice came from behind the Witch, making her jump a bit.

She turned around to face Wesley and Spike, who had both come out of the establishment after her, looking rather worried.

"Yes please, she's using her Slayer powers to run away, I'll never be able to catch up with her." Willow turned around to stare at the corner Faith had disappeared around.

"Okay, we'll meet you two back at the hotel," Spike said, taking off to run after Faith.

"Yes, sure, okay," Willow muttered absentmindedly, watching Spike take off after Faith. A hand on her arm made her look up.

"Come on, let's go back to the hotel," Wesley said, gently pulling her arm. "You didn't see that coming did you?" he prodded.

"N-no, not at all," Willow stammered. "H-how long has she...you know?"

"Well," Wesley began. "According to Spike she was giving you 'a look' all the way back in Vilnarsy. I myself noticed the way she acted around you on-board The Cynosure."

"God, I never noticed. When did I become so blind?" Willow sighed, following Wesley back to their hotel.

"I think you might have had other things on your mind. And Faith has been very subtle, especially for Faith," he smiled. "But she has been very protective about you." He glanced over to the shy, yet powerful girl walking next to him. 

He knew she had only a few months ago lost her girlfriend, tried to end the world and then ended up here. No wonder the redhead hadn't noticed the beginning of Faith's attraction to her. Her mind had been occupied elsewhere.

Not that he could hold that against her. After all, it had taken him some time to figure out for himself that Spike had been attracted to him. And it had taken getting stabbed and kissed in an alley for him to act upon his own attraction to the vampire.

"What about you?" Wesley asked her. "Do you feel anything other then friendship for Faith?"

They had reached the hotel and started climbing the stairs. "I...don't know. I'm so confused, but...I...like her a lot." Willow frowned.

Wesley nodded, opening the door for her. Walking in after her, he sat down on one of the sofa's and watched as Willow started to pace.

"I mean, she's all different now, you know?" Willow started. "Not like she was in Sunnydale." She stared at Wesley and gave him a crooked smile. "I guess you do know that. Anyway. I like her. She's...nice, and...thinks about us, and...and I'm not making any sense!" Frustrated she threw her hands in the air.

Giving her a look of sympathy, Wesley took a deep breath. "I think, the question to ask yourself is: Would you like what is between you two to be more than just friendship?"

Willow stared at him for a long moment and thought, going over options, rejecting some, accepting some. "I..think," she said slowly, "That I might like that."

Wesley nodded. "Then I'd say, take it from there, and take it slow. We seem to have plenty of time."

Sitting down next to him Willow gave him a hug. "Thanks," she smiled at him. "Now I can only hope Spike can convince her to come back to I can tell her that."

"Oh, I have the utmost confidence in Spike," Wesley grinned. "Though, I may be a little biased."

~*~*~*~

"Look Spike, what part of 'no' didn't you get?" Faith stood against a wall, arms wrapped around herself, glaring at the vampire in question. "I'm not going back!"

Spike, effectively blocking Faith from escaping, glared right back at her. "Why not? You're just gonna walk away without giving her a chance to respond to what you did?" 

"I saw her response," Faith shot back. "She was disgusted! I fucked it all up as usual. Big surprise there." She sighed and leaned against the wall, scowling at Spike.

"That's not what I saw," Spike challenged her. "Willow is a sweet girl, but she can be rather dense sometimes. She probably never noticed your attraction to her and what I saw on her face was shock, as in surprised shock. Not disgust."

Faith blinked at him. "You knew?" she asked stunned.

"Oh bloody hell yes," Spike smirked. 'I noticed it way back in Vilnarsy. Probably even before you caught on yourself. Even Wes noticed it on The Cynosure. The only one who didn't notice was Willow. And I'm having a strange sense of Deja-vu here."

"Ah yeah, Wesley can be very dumb too," Faith nodded. "And he didn't have it in him to be shocked when you kissed him the first time."

"That's right," Spike said, pointing a finger at her. "But look at where he and I are now. You can have that too, if you stop running away!"

Wincing, Faith glanced at the pavement. "But what if she says she doesn't want to go there?" she asked softly.

"Then you'll have to deal with it," Spike answered. "That's what life's all about. Taking chances. Some you win, some you loose. But you'll never know until you tried."

Watching her foot scuff in the dirt, Faith was silent for a moment. "You think," she started, "That if I spend so much time with Wilow, I'll start talking like her too? Because you just sounded an awful lot like Wes," she grinned at him.

"Well," Spike said thoughtfully, "Personally, I think that would be a nice bonus point if things work out."

He ducked as Faith mock punched him. "Alright Blondie, let's get back to the hotel." Taking a deep breath, and inwardly cursing at the nervous feeling in her stomach, Faith followed Spike back to the hotel.

~*~*~*~

Faith reluctantly followed Spike into their joined hotel rooms. Wesley was sitting on the sofa, looking up expectantly.

"Ah, there you are," he smiled at her encouragingly. 

"Yeah," Faith mumbled, "here I am."

"Where's Red?" Spike asked. He looked over at the balcony Wesley nodded at. Grabbing Faith by the arm, he dragged her over, opened the sliding doors and propelled her out onto the balcony. 

"And now we wait," he said, plopping down next to Wesley, putting his feet on the other man's lap. 

That earned him a raised eyebrow.

Willow looked up, startled as Faith suddenly appeared on the balcony. They just stood there and stared at each other for some time.

"Err...hi," Willow said shyly.

Gulping Faith walked closer to her. "Look Wills, about what happened...uh...back there, I'm....I'm sorry. I...just don't know what came over me, I just wanted to kiss you and I ...was out of line. I'm sorry," Faith rambled, she looked down, her hair falling over her face. Damn, she thought. This was so unlike her. She was Faith, want, take, have. Yet somehow, she couldn't be like that around these people. Especially not around Willow.

"I'm not," Willow said in a shaky voice.

Faith's head jerked up and she stared at Willow, her mouth opening and closing, trying out several words. "You're...not?" was what she eventually managed.

"No," Willow said, stepping closer. She put her hand over Faith's gripping the railing. "I was caught by surprise. I didn't know you felt that...way about me," she stammered. "But...but that doesn't mean I'm not interested. It was just...you know...going a bit fast."

"Yeah," Faith muttered. "So...what are you saying?"

"I'm saying what I said in the dance hall. I'm saying that I might be interested if the right person came along. Do you think you're the right person?"

"I'd like to try and prove to you that I might be," Faith said softly, not looking away from the other girl.

"I think I'd like that" Willow smiled.

Faith's smile grew bigger, her heart beating in her throat. "So...now what?" she asked.

"Now you sodding kiss!" Spike yelled from inside, having overheard everything through the open door.

"Spike!" Wesley's scolding voice was heard, accompanied by the sound of him hitting the vampire's arm "Stay out of this!"

Willow and Faith laughed, and then simply hugged each other. This would do for now. They could take it slow. After all, they had plenty of time to grow together.

~*~*~*~

The four friends, stood in front of a bright red temple complex. The building stood out due to its bright color and odd oriental shape.

The week had flown by. They had spent their time shopping, going out some more, resting and meeting a few new people. One of them had turned out to be the brother of Jack the sailor. The man had a store in all sorts of supplies. Tents, life stock, food, you name it. They had spent hours there, browsing through the odd trinkets the man had collected through the years.

And now, the time had come to meet the City Protector of Maxion. Somehow they were all nervous. The huge temples, the fact that they had to make an appointment and the way people spoke about this Protector, made it clear that he was very different from his sister over in Vilnarsy.

They didn't really know what to expect, so they were on their guard when they entered the room in which the meeting would take place.

There was a huge marble shrine in the middle of the large room they were in, no other furnishings were there but the walls were covered with what appeared to be entire manuscripts written out. Wesley had to fight the urge to look them over and figure out what they'd say. Impressive stone pillars supported the massive ceiling and an everlasting flame burned bright in the centre of the shrine.

"Okay, so, what? We knock on the thing and ask if he's home? Like we did last time?" Faith shrugged.

"Somehow I doubt that," Wesley said, glancing at the shrine. The appointment was for three o'clock; it was now ten past three o'clock. They had been in the room for ten minutes now and were getting more and more nervous.

Spike circled the shrine. "Well, where is he? We might have better things to do you know."

"Spike!" Willow hissed, "He might be listening, behave!"

"Oy! Eavesdropper eh?" Spike grinned. He was about to joke around some more when they suddenly noticed the change on the shrine.

The small flame grew bigger, almost touching the ceiling. Red and yellow sparkles flew from the inside, while the flame started to swirl around, growing smaller again, until it had the form of a body.

A male body, made up completely out of red, orange and yellow flames. Willow was reminded of 'the human torch' she had once seen in one of Xander's comic books.

"Greetings," the Higher Being thundered, his voice bouncing off the walls, echoing in their ears.

The fire spirit frowned and looked around annoyed. "Scuse me," he muttered. Turning around, he started to fiddle something on his shrine and looked up again. "Testing?" he said, only this time his voice sounded normal. "Damn priests and their high and mighty attitude," he muttered.

Clearing his throat he glanced at them. "Okay, let's start again. Greetings!"

They could only stare at the being with open mouths. Wesley tried to say something, but found he couldn't find the right words.

The fire creature looked at them bored. He tapped his foot impatiently and looked at the ceiling. "Well?" he asked with an annoyed voice, "what do you people want, I don't have all day."

"Oh, yes right," Wesley stammered. "Uhm, your sister sent us."

The City Protector stared at him. "Which one, I have so many I lost count," he shrugged.

"The...ah, one from Vilnarsy," Wesley answered confused.

"Oh her," the fire creature nodded. "One of my better sisters, they can be so annoying. What did she send you to me for?" God, what was it with these humans. Couldn't they just simply say what they wanted, instead of him having to play twenty questions?

"She said you could point us in the right direction of The Visionaries," Willow told him.

"Ah, oh them," The spirit said with a bored face. "Yeah, I heard about them. All I know is that you have to go north and ask my brother in Green Medow. He can tell you how to go from there."

"Green Medow," Wesley muttered. He'd seen that town on one of the maps he thought. But the town had seem far away from here.

"Yeah," the fire creature shrugged again, "It's beyond the valley of The Ancient Ones."

"ancient ones?” Spike wondered out loud. "What are those?"

"No, no, no. Not the ancient ones, The Ancient Ones," the fire creature corrected. "I don't know," the City Protector almost yawned. "All I know is that they're far from here and that they're...you know...Ancient. Okay, was there anything else? I got things to do you know." He stared at them.

"Recap," Faith interjected, "We have to go to Green Medow, beyond the Valley of the Ancient Ones and ask your brother there. He a city protector too?"

"Of course he is!" the fire spirit huffed rather insulted. "What? You think we let just any lowlife in our family? Please!" he glared at her. "Okay now, if that was all, I'm off. Nice meeting you," and with that, the flame grew bigger again, licking the ceiling. Sparks flew from it and then it shrunk to its normal size again.

"Well," Spike snorted, "That wasn't really worth getting nervous over."

"Indeed," Wesley agreed.

~*~*~*~

The group decided to pick up the maps and go to the store of Jack's older brother Josh. Since he seemed the traveling type, if the stories he had told them about his younger days were anything to go by.

"Ah, yes, Green Medow," Josh said thoughtfully, glancing over the map with the others. He pointed out where they were now, followed a route that went past several small dwellings, over a Valley and ended up just beyond it in a town called Green Medow. "Now not all dwellings are on this map," he said. "And it'll be a dangerous journey, especially with the winter coming closer."

"Green Medow is different from the towns on this side of the valley," he explained. " Hell, the entire other side is different. We've only had a handful of visitor from beyond. Most don't survive the trip through the valley, though no one knows exactly what those Ancient Ones are."

"How is the winter here?" Wesley wanted to know. They were going to need supplies. Tents, food, maybe some of those horse creatures and lord knew what else.

"It can be pretty tough outside the city. Snow and freezing rain and stuff. But if you got good protection it should be all right. And you can stop and stay every now and then at some of the dwellings on the map. They're the friendly kind...mostly."

"Mostly?" Faith said incredulous. "And what does that mean? How unfriendly can they be?"

"Don't rightly know," Josh said, "There's talk about cat like creatures, horse creatures, some tribes," he shrugged. "But those are just rumors."

"Well then, Josh, we're going to have to relay on your expertise about what we'll need for this trip," Wesley said. He glanced around the cluttered shop and started to mentally make a list.

"Sure, can do!" Josh smiled and started to putter around. Faith and Spike right on his heels, helping him drag several items to the back.

Willow moved to the dried food section, picking out several herbs and spices she thought she might need, and not only for food.

Moving to the corner with several odd items, Wesley started to rummage around it. He found several things that might come in handy. Fire stones, water flasks, he even found an old empty book and a pen, when his eye suddenly caught something that looked oddly out of place. Slowly he picked up the wooden box and peered inside.

He frowned at the contents and then quickly looked around for another box. He found it quickly; several boxes in fact. Turning again to the first box, he removed the object and weighed it in his hand. It was almost perfect. Wesley looked at it from all sides, inspecting it with an expert eye. Then he walked over to Josh.

"Where did you get this Josh?" he asked, holding up a gun. It wasn't a new gun, like they would have had at home but rather was an older one, similar to one from the late nineteenth century. And with it, came several boxes of bullets.

Faith and Spike both raised an eyebrow at their friend. He was looking at the gun rather gleefully, as if he had found a new friend. 

"Oh that," Josh said looking over. "Some traveler brought that, swapped it for some cloths and stuff years ago. Don't know what it is though, man said it came from beyond."

"Have you more of these" Wesley wanted to know. Expertly trying out the gun without the bullets. It felt easy in his hand.

"Naw, never seen one of them before or after. And I got that 'bout ten, fifteen years ago."

"How much do you want for it?" Wesley said, putting the boxes on the counter. This earned him a strange look from all three of his friends.

Josh looked at the boxes and then at Wesley. "You know what this is? You can have it then, I got no use for it," he shrugged. "Take it, it's just gathering dust here."

"Thank you, Josh," Wesley said, smiling broadly. He pushed the gun in the waistband of his pants and put the boxes of bullets in one of the bags.

"You know how to use that, pet?" Spike asked carefully.

"Does he ever," Faith mumbled, remembering the stories Angel had told her about the Englishman's perfect aim.

Wesley just grinned at them.

~*~*~*~

At the end of the day, Josh had assembled them everything they would need for their long journey. He'd even given them four 'horses' and two pack animals with the words 'think nothing of it, walking will take ya about a year.' He had asked a ridiculously low price for everything. And when while the others had distracted their new friend, Willow had snuck back and put down double the amount under the counter.

This was their last day in Maxion. Faith and Willow had gone out again, as they could not do so again, certainly not for a long time.

Wesley had opted to stay at the hotel room to relax and read some, while Spike had gone out for a pint in a nearby bar.

Clad in only a comfortable pair of 'Original Maxion pants', Wesley was laying on the bed. Glasses perched on his nose, book in hand. He had been reading for the better part of the day now, and found that he just couldn't put down the book. It was extremely interesting.

Shifting back against the pillows, he turned the page. He was so engrossed in the book, he never noticed Spike coming back. Until he felt a cool hand brushing over his stomach.

Startled, he looked up into Spike's smirking face. 

"Good book?" the vampire grinned, his hand moving to brush over Wesley's side.

"Uhm, yes, actually," Wesley smiled. He put a small piece of paper between the pages to indicate where he had left off. "When did you get back?"

"Only just now," Spike muttered, bending down and dipping his tongue into Wesley's navel.

Letting out a small gasp, Wesley blinked at Spike, his hand tangling in his hair. "I thought you would be a while," he muttered, scooting down a bit.

"Been gone for hours," Spike smiled up at the watcher. He moved up Wesley's body, kissing and nipping along the way, ending up face to face. Gently the vampire removed the glasses and put them on the nightstand. "I thought I'd come by to taste something I like better," he smirked. 

"Oh? Really?" Wesley smiled back at him. Putting his hands around Spike's neck he pulled him down for a kiss. Pushing his tongue into the cool mouth, tasting the vampire. He let his tongue glide over Spike's lower lip, before sucking the vampire's tongue into his mouth.

Spike groaned into the kiss, planting both hands on either side of Wesley and lowering his body on the ex-watchers carefully, thus effectively pinning him onto the mattress. 

"Oh yeah, I definitely like this taste better," Spike mumbled. He moved a leg so that he was now straddling Wesley.

One of Wesley's hands raked through the vampire's hair, while the other slid down and under Spike's tunic. His hand brushed over the exposed skin. "You're all sticky," Wesley informed Spike in between kisses. 

Rubbing his own erection over Wesley's, Spike groaned into the other man's mouth. "It was busy at the pub, got beer spilled over me," he moaned. Bending his head he started to lick and suck on Wesley's nipple.

Arching into the touch Wesley started to pant. "Is that what that wretched smell is?" he grinned, pushing up Spike's tunic. "You need a bath."

Sitting up, Spike pulled the damp tunic over his head. "I think I should," he agreed. Jumping off the bed, he smirked as Wesley made a small noise of disappointment.

Quickly pulling down his pants, Spike started to pad over the bathroom, wriggling his naked ass at Wesley.

Sucking in his breath, Wesley stared at Spike's naked form. Bloody hell, he was gorgeous. How did he ever not notice that?

"Hey handsome! What's keeping you?" Spike yelled from the bathroom. Wesley didn't need to be told twice. Grinning, he was off the bed and in the bathroom within seconds.


End file.
